The lack of support from the government for our mother tongue saddens me. I have read article after article on tuairisc.ie recently, discussing the terrible stories of the decline of the Irish language. The government keeps saying one thing but doing the opposite. It is clear that the government is ignoring our language. What kind of things are involved? There is not space to mention them all here, but here are a few examples.

People are able to get jobs dealing with language matters and Gaeltacht matters, who do not (even) speak Irish! For example, in the past, a few people were appointed as Ministers of the Gaeltacht, who were not fluent in Irish - including Joe Mac Hugh and Jack Chambers. TD Catherine Connolly is worried that it is still happening - even in her home county (Galway)! Speaking before the Irish Language Committee of the Oireachtas, Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Thomas Byrne said he hoped the national recruitment plan would tackle the problem, but he also said he believed there was a "moral duty" to officials who are responsible for matters Irish to learn the language.

And what about Breandánn Ó Beaglaíoch, who was fighting with Kerry County Council for 15 years over his plans to build a small house on his family's land on the Dingle peninsula! The Kerryman warned that the Gaeltacht communities are in danger of losing their language without new laws that prioritize Gaeltacht folk (wanting) to build houses on their own land, and to avoid the depopulation of the Gaeltacht.

Or how about Cormac Chambers, Principal of Gaelscoil Lis na nÓg in Raglan. This is what he had to say. "Because there is no Irish language secondary school in the area, many children fall out of the Irish language school system. This is a scandal and shows the State’s and the Department of Education's lack of respect for the development of the Irish language and Irish education."

Dúirt an Teachta Dála Éamon Ó Cuív go bhfuil an Ghaeilge fágtha in áit na leathphingine, nuair a bhíonn buiséad na Roinne Turasóireachta, Cultúir, Ealaíon, Gaeltachta, Spóirt agus Meán á leithroinnt. “Má bhreathnaíonn muid ar bhuiséad na Roinne, tá méadú ollmhór ar an gcaiteachas atá ar an gComhairle Ealaíon, mar shampla, agus ar na healaíona ar fad,” a dúirt sé, “agus ag an am céanna, thóg airí sinsearacha éagsúla cinneadh sa Roinn sin go bhfáiscfí an t-anam as foilsitheoireacht na Gaeilge.”

Thomas Byrne is the first Gaeltacht minister of state to accept the irrefutable evidence that it is an emergency in terms of Irish being spoken in the Gaeltacht. "There is a crisis, there's no doubt about that."

Workable solution?

Although we have strong political advocates for language rights, they do not have the capacity to make the necessary changes, because they do not have the power directly. I am talking about language heroes like: The Language Commisioner – Mr. Séamas Ó Concheanainn; The Complaints Manager – Ms Órla de Burke; TD Catherine Connolly; TD Éamon Ó Cuív; TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Chairman), and Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee. There are also great organisations fighting for the Irish language, organisations like Conradh na Gaeilge and its General Secretary Julian de Spáinn. They and their likes have been notifying the government for a long time that the language crisis is ongoing and that the government is obliged to take steps to preserve it and even expand it. You would be ashamed to see what is going on with Welsh in Wales! And what about the North - isn't it an incredible story what has been done for the Irish language in the North - where it is much more difficult to get language rights? I think the seeds of the solution can be seen in that story.

Political Activism!

Very often, politicians are able to ignore Irish language activists, and put Irish matters on the sidelines. That is exactly what happened in the North. Although official recognition of the Irish language was promised in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, it was ignored. But the Irish language activists did not accept that and held protest rallies demanding official status for Irish. More than 50 language activists started the Red Dream (an Dream Dearg -a pressure group for language rights) in 2016, and organized a major protest in Belfast in 2017 - Lá Dearg! Around 15,000 people marched on the City Hall in Belfast, demanding the passage of the Irish Language Act, which was promised by the British and Irish governments in 2006. The British government had an easy excuse in Brexit, and Irish language matters were ignored during Brexit.

But the Red Dream did not stop trying to achieve its objective, and when the Brexit had been completed for some time, they organized a rally in 2022, in which more than 17,000 people marched for language rights. At the end of the same year, 'The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022' was passed in Westminster, giving official status to the Irish language in the North, with the various advantages associated with that status. As Churchill himself said – “Never surrender!”

And that is the way forward in Ireland too. We need to bring the government to account regarding its lack of support for the language, regarding the proper implementation of the Languages Act and to resolve the various problems mentioned above. Why wouldn't the Red Dream or similar organize protest rallies at Leinster House in Dublin, demanding that a specific plan be implemented soon to tackle the language crisis that has finally been admitted by the government itself ? Why wouldn't that work?

Hot off the press - green shoots!

As this article was going to press, I saw that a protest at Leinster House about the housing crisis in the Gaeltacht had just taken place. Among the protesters were the people of the Gaeltacht, the people of the community, and representatives from various organizations - Conradh na Gaeilge, the National Language Planning Committee, BÁNÚ, the Red Dream, the Students' Union in Ireland, the Post-Primary Students' Union of Ireland and CATU Ireland [Union for Communities and Tenants]. Good for you all! I hope that protests like this will take place as often as necessary, to publicly express the will of the people and the government's promises regarding language rights in a way that the government can no longer ignore them!

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