Saying Slan to An Ghaeilge
Read more about: Census, Education, Social Policy 
Earlier this evening, Questions and Answers flirted briefly with the issue of the Irish language, following the leaking of a report which predicted the end of Irish as the Gaeltacht’s lingua fraca within twenty years. Eamon Ó Cuív was asked whether he was embarrassed that only 46% of students in Gaeltacht schools can speak the mellifluous Gaeilge. The Minister fudged admirably, and was at pains to point out that the figures were in line with previous census findings. That may be, but the point is hardly whether or not they came as a surprise. It is rather that the Irish language is in terminal decline, and has been since the 19th century.
Mr. Ó Cuív points to the total number of Irish speakers, which has risen by over a million people since the turn of the century. Granted, but of those 1.7 million people only about 85,000 claim to speak the language on a daily basis outside of education, with a further 100,000 reporting weekly use. There are 64,000 Irish speakers left in the Gaeltacht, and even there they are only 70% of the total population. With this in mind, it hardly seemed necessary to spend over €500,000 euro to reach the conclusion that the language may be in trouble.
The strength of the consensus among Irish politicians of all stripes- that Gaeilge must be cherished and preserved at all costs- is matched only by their total inability to do anything about it. No policy has yet been successful in halting the decline of Irish as an everyday spoken language. It is unlikely, at this stage, whether any top-down government initiatives can have the desired effect. However, if radical steps are taken, there may be life in the old teanga yet.
This does not mean that Irish and Irish speakers should be showered with ever more resources and benefits. The status already afforded Irish by the State means that fluent speakers are well endowed with ways to profit by their native tongue: exam bonuses at Leaving Certificate, grants for those living in Gaeltacht areas, any number of jobs in government-subsidised state bodies, newspapers and broadcast media. The argument that Irish speakers get a bum rap- the rationale behind the Official Languages Act- does not really stand up to scrutiny.
Irish language policy needs a good dose of reality. Irish may be the first language of the state under the constitution, but in reality it is a minority persuation, and needs to be recognised as such. Compulsory Irish for the Leaving Certificate, for example, is completely counterproductive. The education system churns out people able to speak the language, but with no desire to, and often harbouring resentment towards it (the name of Peig Sayers still sends a chill down the spine of a generation of school-goers). This report by the European Commission notes that:
“All Irish children continue to learn Irish in both primary and postprimary school as a subject, but despite some thirteen years experience in the case of the average child, these programmes do not generally produce highly competent active users of Irish”. (section 2.1)
Indeed, enforcing Irish through total immersion in primary schools was pursued vigorously by successive governments up until the 1950’s, when it was realised that such methods were failing abjectly in making us all “not free merely, but Gaelic as well”. The lesson we should learn from past experience is that pushing Irish too hard does nobody any favours.
So by “radical steps”, I really mean take Gaeilge off the life support machine, and see what happens. Remove it as a compulsory subject in schools, end preferential treatment for Gaeltacht areas and Gaelscoileanna, stop subsidising Irish-language media, and see what happens. The results can’t be worse than previous policies of compulsion and hysterical promotion. A language only dies out if people don’t wish to speak it any more. Charles Flanagan of Fine Gael, speaking on Q&A tonight, noted that an MORI poll (also mentioned here) in 2004 found that “92 per cent of Irish people say promoting the Irish language is important to the country, themselves, or both”. If the people are serious about rescuing Irish, then let them step up to the plate now. Government throwing money at the problem is a tried and tested failure.
All of which underlines the tragic waste of funding that will result from Irish’s new-found status as an EU official language. What benefit will translating EU legislation (for which there is no existent vocabulary in the case of many of the technical issues the EU legislates on) bring to anyone or anything apart from the handful of interpreters who will be employed as a result at great cost to the EU taxpayer?
The education system churns out people able to speak the language, but with no desire to
That’s a fallacy – the education system generally churns out people who cannot speak the language at any competent level, and have no intention of learning how to do so.
In my opinion, the Government’s approach to Irish needs to change dramatically, but making Gaelic an optional subject is not the right course of action at all.
The problem with Irish in schools is that it’s taught as a subject rather than a language. It’s all about memorising sentences, rules and structures rather than learning things in a fluid or natural way. From my own experience, having spent most of my life learning Irish and just 5 years learning German I was far more confident at conversing in the latter.
Besides education the Government needs to get serious about Irish across the country, not just in Gaeltacht areas. They’ve been gifted with a surge in interest for Gaelscoileanna and are squandering it – one gaelscoil in Cabra (Bertie’s constituency) is only now getting a building, having worked out of mouldy pre-fabs for years. Another in Finglas is operating out of the back of an abandoned dance hall with no sign of a dedicated building at all.
They also need to encourage (but not force) private enterprise to become bilingual so Irish speakers can eventually do everything in their native tongue, rather than just Gov-related things.
Money talks – how about tax credits for private and public sector employees who complete a stringent Irish exam that asserts their fluency? Or small tax breaks for businesses for every Irish speaker they employ? Why not reward places like Tesco for their bilingual signage?
And we should stop fooling outselves too – the census figure that 1.4 m (or so) people speak Irish on a daily basis is based on hot air. Just look at the question – it makes no reference to fluency level or depth and anyone who says “pog mó hón”, “tá mé go maith” or something basic like that can claim to speak Irish every day.
The census should have an extra section on Irish with more than one or two questions. It could ask them for their perceived fluency level, the situations they use Irish in, their qualification level in Irish etc. – not just “do you speak Irish?”.
If the people in the Gaeltacht can’t even be bothered to speak the language then it’s time to roll back the investment in it (and the first saving should be the firing of Eamon Ó Cuív back to being a junior minister for Irish which is the most it deserves).
The money wasted on making every student in the country learn the Irish language would be far better spend by making Irish optional and putting Computer programming on the Leaving cert again as optional. I know which “language” will be most appealing to students and more in common usage in the future.
Just to be a complete attention whore but my take on it (from around this time last year oddly enough) can be found here – http://www.johnmortell.com/2006/08/03/irish-language-rip/ – its pretty similar to what you were suggesting CJ but….
Here’s the thing, Irish people are not taught Irish in school. There is no way you could study a language for 14 years without becoming fluent in it.
Tax incentives for employing Irish speakers? You mean discriminate against those who don’t? Your Irish language lobby has been doing that since the inception of the State, and it did’t work then, and it won’t now.
http://www.gombeennation.blogspot.com
The only problem with the Irish language is that the method of teaching it is calcified. That saying I prefer broken irish to perfect english is what needs to be kept in mind. Lets teach people to speak it first. Once they can speak it they can then improve there grammar.
Also look at TG4 who made an impact with a little money and a lot of imagination.