It's not too long ago when nobody would have thought that the day would ever come when people would be flooding the coasts of our country, hoping to join us. Wasn't it in the opposite way that the human flood was pouring out of us, day after day, week after week and year after year? At that time, you would only hear complaints and grievances from the poor about the poverty of this poor country. Everyone had the same tune, all claiming that our country had gone astray. The media were confirming the same attitude, saying that this country had been "banjaxed", and had gone down the toilet, into the sea.

Even our education system was aimed at getting jobs for our young people in overseas countries, and we were training doctors, nurses, priests, teachers and more, who had no chance of getting a job ONLY overseas. In addition to that, the people of this country did not care about the migration of those educated people, or about the 'Brain Drain' as it is called in English.

Undoubtedly, those who migrated did well, but of course, we should never forget the injustice done to them, when we, as a community, were unable to serve them in their own homeland. Although they managed to achieve a good career, they often shed the bitter tears of exile, because wouldn't it be much better to have the same success in their own country? They were wonderful people, who sent money home to us when it was badly needed.

Arrival of the Celtic Tiger

Big changes began in the nineties, slowly at first and then faster, until we no longer had those difficulties. Young people were going on holiday to faraway places in the world. People had cars, who once had only poor four-legged, long-eared Neids. People were going out to inns and restaurants to dine. And as well as that, people were dressed elegantly, all the time. The look, taste and smell of money was to be found, below and above, near and far, all over the country. You would no longer hear people saying on the Radio or the Television that our land had been "banjaxed", as the people who used to sing that tune were now sitting pretty, earning a pile of money over the years, from the purse of that same "banjaxed" State. To make a long story short, the news of the money was soon out on us, all over the world.

The "Black Babies"

There was only one result of that reputation for money, and that was that people came to the coasts of this country, hoping that they would get a generous share here. Those people came, one by one at first, then in small groups, and finally, they became a strong, unstoppable flood. In the beginning, we did not treat the strangers who came among us so generously, since we had no practice of such, but with the passage of time, we had to accept that we had a duty to treat them with dignity and respect. Didn't we spend many years in this country collecting pennies for the "Black Babies", but when those same Children grew up, and when they came to try and get in, well - that was a whole other story! But after a while, we were made aware that we had no other choice but to give them asylum, when such was due to them, and in addition to that, we welcomed essential workers who came to us in a strong, hopeful, unstoppable toorent, and no wonder we welcomed them, as they helped us to feed and fatten the hungry, Celtic Tiger of ours. As far as I am concerned, we should welcome those righteous people who come to us, in search of asylum, or work, and we should also be happy to grant them the citizenship of our country, if they deserve that.

Now, it wasn't just the "Black Babies" who came to our door, since as soon as the word spread that there was excellent work and jobs to be found there, people from different ethnicities started raising their sails, to make their way to this country.

Welcome to All

Although it is more difficult to deal with more people, we still have to stick to our basic principles. May we never forget the millions of us who fled this country during the Great Famine and found refuge in other countries, including Canada and the United States. No matter how hard it is, it is better to do something, in my opinion, especially in a situation like this. That's not to say that rules aren't necessary, because they are, but when anyone is admitted legally into the country, and especially those seeking asylum, we have an obligation to treat them well. When I see terrible things happening in Dublin, where a camp for asylum seekers was set on fire, or in Ballincollig in Cork, where and a former school was set on fire, which was almost ready to give asylum to refugees from Ukraine, I am both disappointed and determined. Actions speak louder than words, and it is time for us in this country to fight xenophobia, and offer a helping hand to the refugees that our government took in in the first place, to give them a new life. We have no excuses and we have to do the right thing from now on.

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The figures regarding the use of the language were recently published, based on the 2022 Census. There was a 2.55% drop in the number of people speaking the language every day outside the education system, from 73,803 in 2016 to 71,968 in 2022. There was a 2.18% drop in the number of people speaking the language every week, from 111,473 in 2016 to 109,099 in 2022. I see from the government only lip service instead of a comprehensive plan to achieve an increase as opposed to a decrease of Irish speakers. These statistics are eye-opening for us, without a doubt.

I have a few words!!

The number of people who speak Irish rose by 0.6% of the population from 39.8% (1,761,420) in 2016 to 40.4% (1,873,997) in 2022. But of those people, only 10% said that they speak Irish very well , and another third saying that they speak Irish well. The rest (55%) who speak Irish said they are not able to speak it well.

In the Gaeltacht?

The number of people in the Gaeltacht who speak Irish increased, from 63,664 in 2016 to 65,156 in 2022 (an increase of 2.3%). But the number of people in the Gaeltacht who speak Irish every day has decreased from 20,586 in 2016 to 20,261 in 2022 (a 1.6% drop).

Analysis

What is going on at all? On the one hand, things seem to be improving. But on the other hand, the figures say that things are getting worse. Which is correct?

In my opinion, one need not be right and the other wrong. Analysis is necessary to make sense of these figures.

I think that the number of people who speak Irish is increasing because the revival of the language is taking place in the country and people want to improve and practice their Irish if possible. But for the most part people cannot speak Irish in the normal activities of life, because there is not enough infrastructure operating in Irish available to them. And that is the basic reason that there is a decrease in the number of speakers of Irish. Therefore, it is clear that the government's policies regarding the Irish language are not working well, despite the will of the public. What a pity that is!

Recommendations

I was at a loss as to what to do, when I received a 'WhatsApp' message from my loyal friend, Micheál Ó Máirtín. It was a sound bite from the program 'An Saol Ó Deas', with Helen Ní Shé interviewing Irial Mac Murchú. Although the number of speakers of the Gaeltacht decreased overall, the number of speakers of increased in the County Kerry and County Waterford Gaeltachts. Irial is the CEO and director of the television production company, Nemoton, and has a particular insight into the issue of Irish spoken in Gaeltacht na n'Déise in Waterford. Here is a summary of a few points he was discussing. The Gaeltacht na n'Déise was almost on its deathbed in the seventies, said Irial, when a kind of revival came. According to Irial, the cornerstone of that revival was the San Nicolás secondary school. The school was established in the fifties and in the seventies the number of pupils grew significantly. A certain generation, even though they themselves were raised in English, decided to raise their children in Irish, and there was still enough Irish in the environment that it worked out well. After a while, the stain of poverty was no longer on the language, and gradually a new generation could be seen, including teachers, lawyers, nurses and the like, who were brought up with Irish. The support of the local organizations helped with these efforts and especially the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), because they made Irish classes available to people and did their business through Irish in the Gaeltacht. Therefore, the GAA fostered a natural environment for people to speak Irish. Gradually there was a comfortable environment for people to be able to do everything through Irish.

Conclusion

We do not need to rely on the government to revive our language. We can do it ourselves! We have already had great success with Irish primary schools, and now it is time for us to establish secondary schools wherever we can. Then, we have to put public pressure on the local bodies to encourage them to be able to use Irish as well as English. We will be able to recreate the success of the Gaeltacht na n'Déise in other places like that, by collaborating together!

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