Language Rights

Cearta Teanga Toghchán na hEoraip 2014 Language Rights European Elections 2014

A chairde,

Tá Géarchéim os ár comhair maidir le cearta teanga i láthair na huaire.

The Irish Language is currently at a crossroads. It is time to make a decision, should it be something we will allow to drift into folklore and see it as a relic of the past, or to address this issue in terms of the reality of the matter. That being that it is the language of over 77,000 speakers on a daily basis, both inside and outside the Gaeltacht, and as a central part of what defines us as Irish.

It is the first official language of the State, and also a recognised Official Language in Northern Ireland.

On the first of January 2007, the Language was given Official Status within the European Union.

There are several issues touched upon in thus document, that need to be addressed, regarding Irish within the European Union.

• The resignation of the Irish Language Commissioner, Sean O Curraoin, late last year highlighted the dire situation in which the Government is essentially not following its own obligations towards the Language.

• Ending the derogation the Government of Ireland has placed on the status of Irish as an Official Language within the Union.

We would look forward to engaging with all the candidates on these issues in the weeks before the elections on the 23rd of May, and in the subsequent months after the election.

Beir Bua, agus áth mór san mí amach romhat,

_______________________

________________________ Joe O’Connor

Feidhlim Seoighe

Uachtarán

Leas Uachtarán Gaeilge

Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn

Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn

Youth Demands:

1. Full Official Status for Irish as a European Language Irish MEPs are afforded the opportunity to address the Parliament through Irish.

Although, only co-­‐decision regulations must be available in Irish at the moment, due to a renewable five-­‐year derogation on what has to be translated, requested by the Irish Government. The reason for this derogation was given as a shortage of Irish language experts. This shortage no longer exists.

This derogation was only initially believed to last until the end of 2011, although it was extended until 2016. It is up to the Irish Government to officially submit a request to the European Union not to renew the derogation, and they need to take that decision soon if a recruitment campaign is to be properly administered between now and 2017.

This must be acted upon immediately.

The EU is employing people at present (e.g. 10 posts for Irish-­‐language lawyer linguists are to be filled in 2014). There will, however, be more than 180 additional jobs by 01/01/17 if the derogation is ended.

Until this is addressed, Irish does not have the full status as an Official Language of the Union, and therefore not all of the legal documents must be translated to Irish.

Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-­‐level documents of the EU had been made available in Irish.

In addition representatives from Ireland don’t have the same opportunity to use Irish in the European Union due to a lack of interpreters.

Maltese was adopted as an official language in 2004, and they were successful in removing the derogation relating to the language within 3 years. This was achieved by giving temporary contracts to many Maltese experts to facilitate them learning a third language while working in EU institutions. The third language is necessary to obtain a permanent job as a language expert.

What additional benefits would arise for Ireland with the ending of the derogation on the status of Irish in the EU? • Irish would be on a par with each of the other 24 official languages in the European Union, including Maltese, Estonian and Latvian.

• 183 high value jobs would be made available between now and 2017 (103 translators, 32 lawyer linguists, 42 secretaries and 6 unit heads) at no cost to the Government of Ireland.

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There would be a long-­‐term benefit on the influence of Ireland in the European Union, as a certain pro-­‐portion of these people would go on to jobs with responsibility for policy areas in the European Union.

It would improve the status of Irish and the image of the language in the community in Ireland, especially amongst young people of school age and at third level.

2. Equal rights for Irish Speakers The resignation of the Language Commissioner, Sean O’Curraoin, highlighted the lack of support the Public Service provides to Irish Speakers.

Several Marches have been held, in Connemara, in Dublin and in Belfast in support of the former Commissioner decision to stand down, put also to highlight the difficulty of Irish Speakers rights to conduct their business with the State through the medium of Irish.

What we are asking for that the state Support the Right of Irish Speakers to speak Irish in the context of their daily lives.

For equal rights for Irish Speakers, without question and without condition, and for those services to be made available at the same quality as that available to those who seek the same service in English.

3. Language Act for Northern Ireland In a recent report, the Council of Europe has stated that there is a ‘persisting hostile climate’ towards the Irish Language in the Northern Assembly.

The Commission also stated that this was a breach of a charter of rights regarding delays attempts to block requests for bilingual street names.

The current Cultural Minister, Cáral Ní Chuilín, has stated that she will bring in legislation to provide for the rights of Irish Speakers.

The primary reason that no action has been taken so far on this issue is that the power-­‐sharing coalition in the assembly could not agree a submission.

The Council’s report stated that the Assembly should do more to promote Irish in the North.

The Assembly is also in breach of the St. Andrews Agreement, as it does not meet its requirements in to place Irish Language on a statutory footing.

Language Rights are needed for every citizen on the Island of Ireland.

Questions for Candidates

1. If you are elected as a Member of the European Parliament, are you willing to speak Irish regularly and as common practice in Parliament?

2. If you are not comfortable with your own standard of Irish, will you improve upon your level of Irish by taking classes or a self-­‐taught online course so as to ensure that you will have sufficient Irish to appropriately represent, the Irish speaking community especially, in the European Parliament?

3. Are you willing to announce in public as part of your electoral campaign that you wish to have the derogation concerning the status of the Irish language in the European Union ended at the end of the year 2016?

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Mandela