Cúpla Focal

Its official- in less than two weeks Irish, along with Romanian and Bulgarian, will become an official language of the EU. But what exactly does this mean? In simple terms, from January onwards any dealing (documentation or otherwise) an Irish person has with any EU body can be conducted through Irish if the person so requests. In turn, every EU document that is produced must be produced in Irish and every existing EU document must be translated into Irish. Sounds like a lot of hard work. It will undoubtedly create a lot of well-paid jobs for people who speak the language fluently and probably cause a lot of heartache for translators who will have to apply Irish to the existing lengthy texts.  

In real terms though, it is a major triumph for a language that is over 800 years old and at one point was on the verge of extinction; it has definitely come a long way. While in some ways the development can be seen as purely symbolic, it is nevertheless a huge statement and something Gaelgóirí have been campaigning for for years.

Bertie and the boys even made a statement at his Farmleigh estate yesterday, revealing a 20-year strategic plan aimed at improving the use of Irish within the next two years. 

The Taoiseach said that the government now have a new “21^st century” outlook on the Irish language. Now, Bertie says that they are aiming for a bilingual Ireland instead of restoring Irish as the main spoken language as governments favoured in the past.

The DUP were up in arms (not literally) at Westminster last week over the planned Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland as laid down in the terms of the St. Andrews agreement. While nothing is set in stone yet, the act would legally place the status of the Irish language on an equal footing with English. 

The DUP told Tony Blair that such a move would “outrage” the “vast majority” of people in the North and demanded confirmation that in the case of devolution it would be left to the Assembly to decide the terms of the Bill, and whether it should even be enacted at all. Blair gave his assurance that “nobody is going to be forced under the provisions of any such bill to speak the Irish language. Of course not”.  

In all honesty I don’t think that the DUP have anything to worry about, regardless of whether the Bill becomes law or not. The results of the 2002 census (the 2006 results won’t be released until 2007) showed that one tenth of the population of Northern Ireland (1.685 million) claim to have “some knowledge” of the Irish language. 

The reality is that no such law could ever radically transform the position of language in the north for two practical reasons. Firstly, in the Republic, Irish is legally recognised as the first official language of the state (the census showed that 1.57 million people speak it) and every public signpost, street name, bus, public position etc, has to be written in both English and Irish. I am under no illusion that the same would or could occur up north. Secondly with so few people actually able to speak the language, its position would be similar to that of the President of Ireland- purely symbolic.  

But why not I say? If the purpose of the devolved government is to bring about a compromise between the two communities, then the Irish language should receive some sort of recognition, even if it is only purely symbolic. It is nonsensical of the DUP to even suggest that such a Bill would force the Northern Irish people to speak Irish. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about. 

The case against four Donegal fishermen who appeared in court for fraud charges under the Fisheries Act, has been postponed until January 7^th so the case can be tried by an Irish speaking judge.  The four men, all native- Irish speakers requested that all the documentation in relation to the case (including the summonses and the book of evidence) be provided in Irish.   “The Department is trying to drown fishermen in regulations, yet they are not carrying out their statutory duties by providing these regulations in Irish”, said the solicitor of one of the men.  No pun intended Im sure..

Irish comedian Dara O’Briain acheived the rare feat of rendering Jonathan Ross speechless on his talk show on Friday night. O’Briain, who was a guest on the Jonathan Ross Show on BBC 1, impressed the mouthy presenter by showing that he still has it- well in terms of his Gaeilic skills that is. The Irish funny man explained to Ross the art of shaving- as Gaeilge- leaving Ross and the audience lost for words.

O’Briain, who flies back and forth between London and Dublin to present RTÉ’s “The Panel”, used to present bi-lingual childrens’ programme “ Echo Island” on RTÉ 2. He went to Coláiste Eoin, the Irish speaking secondary school in Stillorgan, and still speaks to his dad in Irish. Maith an fear Dara..!

RTÉ’s Frank Hall, Cork 1974

This is a short video clip is of RTÉ reporter Frank Hall chatting to some locals at Coiscéim Bridge in Cork 1974.  They chat to him both in English and Irish but its difficult to understand them in either tongue.. It’s hard to believe that this was filmed only 32 years ago, the times have certainly changed! A revealing sign of the times, way back when an Tíogar Ceilteach was but a thought in his young mother’s mind…

Christmas greetings on Dublin’s streetlights are in Irish as well as English for the first time ever this year. Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cúiv officially lit up Dublin city when he turned on 20km of Christmas lighting in Wicklow Street. And quelle surprise, the lights were designed by the same French company who designed the lighting for the Eiffel Tower.