The goodwill, positivity and, indeed, latent pluralism of Seachtain na Gaeilge is to be welcomed. But behind the scenes, in Leinster House, whatever about goodwill, positivity and pluralism are not top of the agenda. On the contrary, a quiet war is being waged. The issue is the Official Languages Act (Amendment) Bill.
The original Act was introduced by the then minister for community, rural and gaeltacht affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív TD, and became law in 2003. Its purpose was to enable Irish-speaking citizens to conduct business with the State and State institutions in their own language, thereby giving legal expression to the constitutional recognition of Irish as the first official language. The Act failed to do this. Despite a number of positive provisions, planning for services in Irish was left to the organisations themselves and there were no sanctions for failing to act as promised. The Act has been ineffective. In 2013, the language commissioner himself, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, appointed by the Act to ensure its implementation and to deal with complaints, resigned in frustration.
Three hundred amendments to the present Amendment Bill have been proposed in the past few months. Not all have been accepted. An amendment, recognising the right of Irish speakers to conduct their business with the State in Irish, has been disallowed by the Office of Bills. The institutional Civil Service is digging in its heels and preparing for a long campaign.
Despite the constitutional status of Irish and the Languages Act, the Irish speaker has no rights as an Irish speaker
As things stand, despite the constitutional status of Irish and the existence of the Languages Act, the Irish speaker has no rights as an Irish speaker. The situation is reminiscent of the bad old penal days: the State does not, de facto, recognise any such person as an Irish speaker to exist. It is an extraordinary fact that it is not illegal for any State body to use English and English only in Irish-speaking areas. As the present Language Commissioner’s office recently informed musician Breandán Ó Beaglaoich: Kerry County Council was under no legal obligation to deal with him in Irish.
Hostility and intransigence
The people of the Gaeltacht are well aware of this administrative reluctance to take Irish on board. Institutional hostility to the language is all part of Gaeltacht life. It is little wonder then, that, in the face this intransigence, which has barely changed in the past three or four hundred years, some parents in the Gaeltacht are still caught in the centuries-old dilemma of whether or not to speak Irish to their children. For many the old catch phrase of the 19th and 20th centuries is still valid: what use is Irish?
The young people themselves are in an equally invidious position. Although jobs that require Irish exist, it is very difficult for an Irish-speaking teenager to see a clearly defined career path in their native language. As Catherine Connolly TD recently pointed out in the Dáil as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge, it is somewhat ironic that qualified Irish speakers are finding employment in Brussels while there are no jobs for them in the Civil Service in Ireland.
Linguistic make-up
Where is the Government in all of this? Should they not be fighting for us? And by “us” I mean not just Irish speakers like myself but the vast majority of Irish people who have said in polls, time and time again, that they want Irish preserved as a community language and as an integral part of our cultural and linguistic make-up. Although the Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Sport, Jack Chambers, tries to be conciliatory and understanding of the needs of the Irish-speaking community, he comes across mainly as a mouthpiece for the institutional Civil Service, if not their pawn.
It is very difficult for an Irish-speaking teenager to see a clearly defined career path in their native language
What needs to be done? The role of the Civil Service is to implement the will of the people, not to undermine it; to ensure that our democracy works; and, in conjunction with the Government and the Constitution, to respect and uphold the rights and dignity of all our citizens. This includes Irish speakers. An amended Act must recognise the absolute right of Irish speakers to do business with the State, in all its manifestations, through Irish.
In order to achieve this, a thorough ongoing national campaign to recruit Irish speakers to national and local administrations must be begun immediately. This action in itself would go a long way towards encouraging all Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht and elsewhere to continue speaking their language. That would, in its turn, help secure the future of Irish as a community language. The war would be over.