Irish becomes official and working language of EU

by Sinn Féin Mon Jun 13, 2005 21:55

Speaking today Ms de Brún said:

"As an Irish speaker I am obviously delighted that the Irish language has been accorded the status of an official working language of the EU. Today's announcement is a victory for campaigners from all over Ireland and further afield who continue to campaign for equality for the language.

"Sinn Féin has made the recognition of the Irish language at EU level a party priority and has campaigned long and hard with other Irish speakers and Irish language organisations.

"As expected, the other member states unanimously endorsed what was sought by the Irish government. Sinn Féin will continue to monitor the impact of the derogation sought by the Irish government and the pace of practical improvement in the status of the language and its speakers.

"Whilst recognition of the language in an international context is symbolic, it is also much more than that. The positive impact of this decision will be hugely influential for the one million plus Irish speakers and learners in this country, as well as opening up further employment opportunities for Irish speakers.

"I want to pay tribute to all those involved in the STÁDAS campaign for their hard work and determination, which undoubtedly moved the Irish government to act on this issue. Today's announcement is a major step forward in the Stádas campaign. This is a day to celebrate for Irish speakers and campaigners." ENDS

by Pádraig Thu Jun 16, 2005 05:00

Eamon Ó Cuiv's stament was bilingual. I'd be surprised if Joe Higgins' and Trevor Sargent's were as well.

by Pádraig Thu Jun 16, 2005 05:08

"weren't as well"

by roplachán Thu Jun 16, 2005 05:43

b’fhéidir go bhfuil sé níos fusa a rá i nGaeilge a Phádraig.

by alternatively Thu Jun 16, 2005 08:16

Or alternatively, "I wouldn't be surprised" ...

by Duine Thu Jun 16, 2005 14:53

Teanga eile le amadántacht a thaispeáint?

by Paul Baynes Fri Jun 17, 2005 13:48

A Phádraig, ceapaim go bhfuil Gaeilge maith ag Joe Higgins, nach bhfuil?

by Duine Fri Jun 17, 2005 18:23

Gaeilge mhaith aige?

Níl fhios agam. Aon uair a chuala mé é is teanga impiriúl a labhair sé.

by Darragh Ó Bradáin Fri Jun 17, 2005 18:58

Tá Gaeilge den scoth ag Joe Higgins. Bhí sé ar an gclár "Ardán" ar TG4 bliain go leith ó shin, agus bhí Páidí Ó Lionáird ag cur agallaimh air, as Gaeilge.

by A10 Sat Jun 18, 2005 14:40

I am proud to say I have never spoken this langauge since my leaving cert ora l twenty five years ago.Well, it seems we now have secured some more jobs for Irish academics in Brussles,translating a virtually extinct langauge into modern European lingo.Ahh shure a great day for the Irish con artists of the Gaelic tounge.

by A10 Sat Jun 18, 2005 14:40

I am proud to say I have never spoken this langauge since my leaving cert ora l twenty five years ago.Well, it seems we now have secured some more jobs for Irish academics in Brussles,translating a virtually extinct langauge into modern European lingo.Ahh shure a great day for the Irish con artists of the Gaelic tounge.

by Póg Mahone Sat Jun 18, 2005 15:11

I think it is great that the 'Teanga' has finally received official recognition. This will encourage people to learn or relearn it.
Hope it sticks in your craw, A10 (or LG, whatever), it has always been an irritation to cryptofascists like you.

by A10 Sun Jun 19, 2005 14:47

If you keep trying to flog your capall marabh till judgement day.You and this DEAD minority langauge are totall unimportant in the scheme of things as the mating habits of moths.And if you are such a good Gaelgoloir TF are you doing writing as Bearla????
I invite YOU to Pog Mohon!!! Barstun!

by Darragh Sun Jun 19, 2005 17:18

What's a Gaelgoloir?

by Duine Mon Jun 20, 2005 19:40

A ghasúir,
Scor de bhur ngeamhthroid.

Má tá cead ag an Béarlóir bheith ina fhaisisteach, bíodh aige

by Al Mon Jun 20, 2005 22:33

Its all well and good to have our language recognised but isnt there better ways to spend the cash? Health service, community schemes, etc

by Darragh Ó Bradáin Tue Jun 21, 2005 18:50

"Its all well and good to have our language recognised but isnt there better ways to spend the cash? Health service, community schemes, etc"

I've heard things like that so often, it's beginning to lose meaning. If an extra €10 was spent on Irish a year, there'd be someone complaining that it should've gone somewhere else. Would people rather no money was spent on the national language?

by redjade Tue Jun 21, 2005 19:48

Friday, June 17, 2005
Irish language move a mistake

Well the zealots won. They tend to, where an issue is both minor and capable of arousing strong feelings in the core constituency. But the rules are the rules, nobody forced the legislative change through in any improper way. That doesn't make it any less ridiculous mind, but there you go.

As readers will know by now, Irish has become an official language of the European Union. At a time when public confidence in the efficiency and integrity of the institutions is at what must surely by an all-time low, it's unhelpful, to say the least, that the EU has now decided that all major official documents must be translated in Irish, increasing expense in another display of counter-productive tokenism. Whether anyone, anyone at all, will actually be enabled to do something they previously couldn't, is doubtful. And, by 'something they previously couldn't do', I don't mean read tax regulations in Irish. I mean empowering individuals to participate who previously were unable to do so.

http://www.freedominst.org/2005/06/irish-language-move-mistake.html

by Al Tue Jun 21, 2005 23:55

Has the plight of the homless, the starving and the sick lost all meaning as well?
I have no problem with money being spent on something like the Irish language however which do you think should be given priority? The ability to read a document in Irish that you could already read in English or a homeless person getting a roof over their head during winter? How about those waiting for surgery?How about a starving child? Do you think they feel that priorities are correct? Will they be comforted in their hour of need by this? Perhaps when your finished reading the document you can let a homeless person use it as a blanket.

by Darragh Ó Bradáin Wed Jun 22, 2005 03:50

"The ability to read a document in Irish that you could already read in English"

What if Irish is my first language? What if it is the language I use everyday? Should I just submit to reading an English document when Irish is in fact my spoken language? Do I not have any rights at all any more?

I take your point about the homeless and poverty etc, and I do realise that there are certain priorities, but the message I am getting from you is that WHATEVER money is spent on Irish, it should by right be spent on something more "worthy". This shows a complete lack of tolerance towards people and their cultures, in fact it almost borders along the lines of racism.

by Al Wed Jun 22, 2005 14:46

"This shows a complete lack of tolerance towards people and their cultures, in fact it almost borders along the lines of racism." - Are you suggesting that I, an Irishman, am racist against the Irish? Not everything is racist.

As long as there is poverty and health issues in this nation I believe funding should be prioritised for them. If funding a project means even 1 person dies as a result of these issues and the funding could have saved them then I stand my ground.

Dont think this is just for the Irish language, I believe this government is burning cash on some of the most ridiculous ideas instead of pumping it into worthwhile causes. The renaming of organisations, multiple independent reports, etc etc. Does anyone in Dublin want an English type post-code system? Whats wrong with Dublin 1, 2, 5, 13, 22 etc? What was so terrible about our road signs?

For anyone who isnt aware, if a department fails to use its budget the budget gets reduced and since no department wants that it means money is wasted in the run-up to budget time. Watch how often the same road will be worked on and the increase in road works leading upto the budget. Thn look at how big the budget is and how much funding the EU has given us for our roads.

And finally, can you produce a single person who speaks Irish but not another european language AND wants to read anything from the EU?

by Duine Wed Jun 22, 2005 15:50

Cad tá a rá agat, a Al, nach bhfuil ceart teanga ag daoine má tá teanga eile aige? Sin ceart a bhaint de.

by Al Wed Jun 22, 2005 17:50

For anyone not as 'clever' as Duine it reads something like "What have you to say Al,people dont have the right language when they have another language"
I may be a little off in my translation but thats more or less it, Im not fluent.

Duine,
Please point out where I called for English to become the grand-master language of europe?

Anyone that cant see my point about priorities and thinks Irish being an official EU language is more important than health and homes for those that need it isnt very 'clever' in my opinion. In fact I think its racist against the homeless and the sick

by Betty Wed Jun 22, 2005 17:59

"In fact I think its racist against the homeless and the sick"

I've never felt the need to be a pedant over your spelling and/or grammar errors but on this you need to be pulled. Their is no race of homeless and sick and therefore it is not racist.

by Al Wed Jun 22, 2005 18:04

Another thread Betty where you post at me and not about the topic? Come come, this isnt the 'follow Al' website, lets talk about the topic at hand ok?

My comment about racism is sarcastic. Look at the posts further up and you should get the joke.

by Duine Thu Jun 23, 2005 15:14

"Duine,
Please point out where I called for English to become the grand-master language of europe?

Anyone that cant see my point about priorities and thinks Irish being an official EU language is more important than health and homes for those that need it isnt very 'clever' in my opinion. In fact I think its racist against the homeless and the sick"

Ó a Al,
Níor chuir mé é sin i do leith , a mhic. Léigh arís a scríobh mé.

Á! Tús áite ! Is chuige sin atá tú! Cad é an loighic anseo? Má cheannaím an nuachtán Foinse, abair, tá mé ag meilt airgid ar an "nGaeilge" agus ag cur le staid míshláinte an phobail agus leo siúd atá gan díon gan foscadh?
A Al, tá ceangail idir eachtraí ceart go leor, ach buaileann sé seo amach ar loighic.

by Tuan Fri Jun 24, 2005 22:32 tuanbreathnach at sympatico dot ca

Just thought you folks would like a few comments on the right to use Irish Gaelic and its current acceptance into the EU



Meitheamh 24ú, 2005

Risteard (Richard) Wagthorne, a chara,

(Dáire Murphy, Dáire Ó Mac Murchaidh, and Peadar Ó Nualláin (Peter Nolan) might like this, too.)

Well, you like to blog.

You call yourself a Freedom Institute and spew your nonsense on the Net. Setting aside all the labels of political parties, the only freedom you are promoting is the freedom to speak English, as that is what you truly represent. That’s a one candidate election you are promoting which is no freedom at all. You have spoken English so long that you and your ancestors, who, if they really had any Irish blood, abandoned our language at the point of the English sword, advocate your conqueror’s language, the better to hide your own shame and laziness in not learning the true native language of Érin.

If you are in Ireland, what are you doing in Ireland, because you certainly don't respect our authentic history and culture, and are doing a terrible disservice to your hosting country by continuing your rants against Irish Gaelic recognition. (And Peter, I have visited and like Dún Laoghaire, but I want Gaelic there as well.) Richard, your interpretation of the EU’s acceptance of Gaeilge is narrow-minded and fascistic, very Germanic in tone. What is the origin of Wagthorne, (‘thorne’) likely anglo-saxon (note the lower-case letters) I repeat, what are you doing in Ireland ? Why don't you return to Scandinavia where your ancestors came from? If you have some Irish blood in you, it has been overridden by your Germanic desire for monotonous robotic linguistic and economic supremacy. English being listed as one of the Germanic group of languages, you belong in a German language country, like the U.S. of A. where you can force your monolingualism and culture of extreme capitalist Nature-Rape on the world. Identify your roots and understand why you speak the way you do. I am Celtic, which includes Érin, Alba (Scotland), Cymu (Wales), Breizh (Brittany), and what the English now call England, which was a Germanic invention of the 8th century A.D. after an anglo-saxon invasion from Germany in 450 A.D. Previous to that, the region now called ‘England’, and, in fact, Pretanii (Britain) was all Celtic. Irish and Britannic (Brythonic) culture is thousands of years old. Éire can claim 2600 years of unbroken monarchy and highly evolved pre-Christian spirituality. Ériú’s language is an extension of continental Celtic culture which is about 5000 years old, the roots running even further back into antiquity in the Caucasus. Before Rome came to brutalize the continental Celts, Celtogalatica, as it was known by Celts, spread from Ireland to what is now Turkey. What right do you have to deny the existence and linguistic validity of all these people? You, and those who deny and denigrate other’s linguistic rights, their right to freedom of speech in the language of their choice, are linguistic bigots, let’s be honest. You hate diversity and respect for others, especially the small, weak or unusable. Only numerously spoken languages get your support. Pretty safe. That doesn’t take much courage. The long linguistic injustices done to the Irish language and people in the past by England from 1172 to 1921, along with the Scandinavian Vikings, (20,000 of whom were finally defeated by Brian Ború in 1014 A.D. at the Battle of Cluain Tarbh, breaking the back of Viking power throughout Europe), merit a correct response; that is, continuing and increased legislative and cultural unity against the invader. You are a modern invader and don’t even know it, a despoiler of other’s cultures, and your own, if you are of Irish origin. Pathetically, it is jealousy which animates such narrowmindedness. The admired invading German ‘culture’ is well known to have very thin roots compared to the Celtic contribution of imagination, art, music, archaeological artifacts, governmental models, and fighting ability. Refer me to the websites displaying ancient Germanic contributions to humanity. I do not see any. That is why Germany had a Hitler, to disguise their lack of pride in their past. Tolkien, the Oxford professor of Old Saxon, sensing this lack of Germanic history, had to invent a mythology drawn largely from Celtic sources with some Norse elements thrown in. He lived near Cymru (Wales), saw trains with long Cymraeg (Welsh) names written on them, and became very impressed by the Celtic world. Why aren’t you? Start educating yourself about where you are instead of spouting the superficial comments flattering to the anglo-U.S. model. The English language is a mongrel, a hodge-podge of words stolen from other cultures. The English language is really Old French and Latin to about 60%. The English are territorial and linguistic thieves/pirates and never give fair recognition to others for their linguistic legacy. So, check the language you’re writing in before forcing it on others. If English had been the only technological language, the Russians and French would never have been able to send rockets into space, but they have, and many of the great minds who went on to produce nuclear and space technology were Europeans. I’m sure you’ll find it sad to hear there is not going to be one universal social or business language headquartered in New York.

Lacking historical understanding, you skim the recent surface with your narrow-minded twenty-year deep opinions. Gaeilge was removed by force at a time when the terrible atrocities could not be recorded on tape, (An Ghórta Mór, the Penal Laws. . .) over an 800 year period, and thus, to find even a minimum of justice, these respects must be restored, by force, especially legislative and governmental/sovereign force. A modernized Irish should be made the working language of Ireland starting with the Gaeltacht and spreading out over the whole island, just as French has successfully been made the working language of Quebec, Canada. Only when people are rewarded economically for using their language will that language survive. Greater economic advantages and rewards must be offered to learn and use Gaeilge, not fewer, just as the English have enticed speakers to the English language by promising them wealth fame, and power. There is always linguistic competition, everyday, everywhere. Computers in Ireland and, wherever else desired, should be programmed in computer languages based upon the Irish, Welsh and Breton languages, not English, which currently subverts Irish and other country’s sovereignties. The linguistic battle now is economically unequal and so, cannot be fought mano-a-mano. A Napoleon is a conqueror for killing hundreds of thousands, a person who kills one or two, a vile murderer. A large army is respected and feared, the small necessarily guerrilla army, derided and scorned. While all war is awful and unfortunate, it is the big army that calls itself ‘legitimate’, protected by ‘law’, ‘lawful’, the small one, labeled as outlawed ‘terrorists’. Semantics. The smaller army does not necessarily have a lesser cause, especially in fighting for linguistic freedom of speech, the spearhead of culture and sovereignty. Ní Tír gan Teanga. (I intentionally won’t translate this for you, as it might shock you into recognizing there is a language you have overlooked where you are living! This will ‘shock and awe’ you.) English has long decided to coerce other peoples into its language, either by force, attempted humiliation, economic piracy, or wars of intervention, all the dirty tricks we can imagine which make for the dirty world we live in. The unjustified and unjustifiable intervention in Iraq is just another example of a bigoted monoglot, mono-religious group (WASPs, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) assuming they are entitled to run the world alone. Extreme Western consumerist democracy is not a model for the Middle East. The Earth cannot sustain any more U.S.A.s. The anglo-U.S. alliance will be rightly challenged by China which feels it has an ancient unappreciated culture, and by many others as these other countries obtain technological advancement and self-respect. The end of the Cold War does not signify the triumph of exploitive unfettered capitalism, for the anglo-U.S. alliance and its puppet speakers such as yourself. Small c capitalist initiative with respect for human dignity has long languished in the shadow of brutal extremist Star Wars-mentality powers, Communism, and other totalitarian autocracies around the globe. Brute force is a sickness. Imposing our will on others and denying them their languages and historical influence is part of that sickness. Érin has experienced 800 years of England’s linguistic, social and economic terrorism. Will you continue to promote it?

What you really mean by ‘Freedom’ is the freedom to impose your values and language on other cultures, because of your own personal insecurities. The drive to be Number One is always based on dreams of superiority. There is no one superior language in the world. Nuclear technology is the birthright of all humanity, not just the few ambitious greedy ones who got there first. Expect a shift in global power as more cultures awaken to their birthright. A unipolar anglo-U.S.-led world is only another brutal dictatorial Rome. A unified and stronger Europe will eventually counterbalance the U.S.-Anglo alliance.

Supposing this will be grist for your mill,

Is mise le meas,

Tuan Breathnach, an Irish citizen

by Angelos TSIRIMOKOS Wed Jul 27, 2005 16:31 Brussels

By all means let Ireland's historic language be granted due recognition as an official language of the European Union. But raising it to the status of a _working_ language would appear to be a waste of money -- for the purely practical reason that there is NO ONE who will have an easier time plodding through the Union's obscure prose in Gaelic than in English!

by Duine Wed Jul 27, 2005 17:41

Níor mheas mé go gcuirfeadh ceart mo theanga fhéin olc ar dhaoine eile.
An bagairt mo cheart teanga ar dhaoine?

by Buck Sun Jul 31, 2005 04:44

"Tá Gaeilge den scoth ag Joe Higgins. Bhí sé ar an gclár "Ardán" ar TG4 bliain go leith ó shin, agus bhí Páidí Ó Lionáird ag cur agallaimh air, as Gaeilge"

Is cainteoir ducháiseach é. He is a native speaker.