FOR THE first time in almost 30 years, the Dáil has divided on the Irish language. Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs Dinny McGinley appealed for Opposition support for the controversial Gaeltacht Bill, which has been described as the “final opportunity” to save Irish from extinction.
Mr McGinley said that in his three decades in the Oireachtas “we never divided on the language or the national question”. They were above politics, he said.
Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil, however, called for a vote on the Bill which abolishes elections to the Irish authority Údarás na Gaeltachta, reduces its membership from 20 to 12, with seven appointed by the Minister and five nominated by county councils in Gaeltacht areas.
Sinn Féin Gaeltacht spokesman Peadar Tóibín accused the Minister of politicising the Údarás, but Mr McGinley said it “couldn’t be more political than the outgoing Údarás” and he was “trying to turn the tide” to protect the language.
He was speaking at the end of a two-day, five-hour bilingual debate in which 20 TDs participated.
A State-wide linguistic study found just one in four residents of Gaeltacht areas, 23,175 people, speak the language daily. Irish as a community language is not expected to survive beyond 15 to 20 years without radical action.
The Opposition criticised the Minister for not focusing most resources on Gaeltacht areas.
Irish language organisations have also been critical, but Fine Gael’s Michael Creed said there was a “kind of linguistic imperialism among those who are fluent in Irish towards those who only have a few words of the language”.
But he criticised as “fundamentally unfair” the restructuring of the Údarás board so the three smallest Gaeltachts would not have an automatic right to nominate a member. Cork, Waterford and Meath will rotate membership for two years each while the Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Kerry Gaeltachts will have a full member for the duration of the board.
Dublin Mid-West Labour TD Robert Dowds said the Irish language “is on its deathbed in the Gaeltacht areas”.
But in areas such as Clondalkin, a small group of people had helped the language flourish.
