Madam, - "Irish primary teachers have been protected from the glare of publicity as all commentary on their teaching has been published in Irish alone".
I was genuinely perplexed by this sentence, which appears in your report (June 23rd) on primary school inspections, until it finally dawned on me that it referred not to Irish primary teachers, but to teachers in Irish-language schools. The same usage appears in another article on the same page, which refers to "Irish (sic) second-level schools".
A number of questions arise - (a) when did the meaning of the adjective "Irish" change?; (b) should the Government henceforth publish all its reports in Irish only, safe in the knowledge that this would protect them from "the glare of publicity"? agus, mar fhocal scoir, (c) an bhfuil duine ar bith fágtha ar fhoireann an Irish Times a bhfuil léamh na Gaeilge aige nó aici? - Yours, etc,
BAIRBRE NIC AONGUSA, Bré, Co Chill Mhantáin.