The Irish Government fights for English-only language policy, even as EU set to make Irish fully official in January 2022
The shame of our linguicidal state BY EOGHAN FINN It is almost unheard of for a senior member of the judiciary to intervene in public debate. Judges today tend to value the independence of their role and steer clear of anything that could be considered political. You would think, therefore, that when a respected senior judge of the Court of Appeal like Úna Ní Raifeartaigh thought it necessary to publicly suggest the courts system is causing harm to the very soul of the nation by treating Irish speakers unequally – going so far as to invoke the term ‘linguicide’ – that civil society, the media, and government would take this very seriously indeed. Sadly, though covered by Irish language sites like Tuairisc.ie in February 2020 and raised repeatedly by Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD during the Dáil debate on the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill earlier this year, Breitheamh Ní Raifeartaigh’s words were widely ignored. This was partly due to timing – Covid-19 arrived to dominate news that month and ever since – but it was also due to sheer apathy. In the 26 County state, we have come to expect Irish speakers being treated worse than English speakers. Judge Ní Raifeartaigh referred in a judgement to the ‘surprising intolerance’ Irish speakers face, but the harsh reality is that it does not come as a surprise at all – the colonial mentality has been so ingrained in us about the inadequacy of our own language and culture, despite its legal or constitutional status, that we assume it is natural to force English on everyone, and tend to treat those who refuse to comply as cranks out for trouble. Even in Gaeltacht areas, where the state 18
• Úna Ní Raifeartaigh
has the definitive aim of preserving Irish as the spoken language of the community since independence, successive neoliberal governments have gutted essential services of Irish-speaking personnel. These services
We assume it is natural to force English on everyone and tend to treat those who refuse to comply as cranks out for trouble include Gardaí and speech and language therapists for children. The mantra is that if you want something, you must switch to English to get it and the results can be seen in the decline of daily Irish speakers in the
Gaeltacht which experts warn could lead to Irish dying off as the spoken language in even the strongest Gaeltacht communities this decade. Far from being a ‘natural’ language shift, this is the result of deliberate state policy that has survived with only minor alterations since British rule: to impose English as the only option for interacting with the state and eradicate nonconformity. When the state joined what is now the European Union, for example, it was our government that sought a reduced status for Irish, not due to reluctance or pushback to our language from any other member state, but simply because our government prioritised English. It took years of street
ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 anphoblacht
