Via Ocean FM, a proposed revamp of the Gaeltacht could see a number of towns losing their Gaeltacht status:
Towns such as Dungloe and Burtonport in Donegal, Dingle, Belmullet in Co.Mayo and parts of Galway city would lose their Gaeltacht status if the linguisitic criteria was implemented.
I’m sure many people will object to this, especially in the affected towns, however I suspect their objections will be based on that fact that they will lose out financially. I see two positives here:
1. Money being spent supporting “Irish speaking” communities which aren’t actually speaking the language could be diverted to communities which ARE speaking the language or to other language support schemes
2. It might wake some people up in these “Gaeltacht” areas, maybe they’ll put a bit more effort into pushing the language as a community language.
As much as I hate seeing Gaeltacht areas decline I find it hard to agree with money being pumped into “Gaeltacht” communities who don’t actually use the language.
There are 51,000 people living in “‘official’ Gaeltacht areas but in which Irish has stopped existing as the community language”, why should they gain the benefits of Gaeltacht status if they are not willing to put effort into developing the language as their community language?
Of course I understand that the issue is not black and white and the recent(-ish) influx of immigrants is bound add a degree of difficulty promoting Irish as a community language in any community in Ireland but I have my doubts that communities are even trying in these areas. Prove me wrong and I’ll happily chance my stance on the matter.
When I first heard of (the?) Gaeltacht, I though that it was a wonderful idea and wished there would be a Welsh equivalent. Having never visited one, I’m in no position to comment really, but to me they don’t sound all that effective, and the idea seems a little un-natural – almost like bribery to speak Irish.
Someone from the Gaeltacht Development Agency/Department gave a presentaition recently at a confrence I attended in Cardiff. The amount o funds was remarkable, but the numbers of speakers in the areas was depressingly low – maybe a new way of thinking is needed
As you’ve noted, and I’ve read in other places it seems area’s are getting funding when the language isn’t being spoken. And it seems there’s no way of preventing those who have no desire to learn/use the language from settling there anyway.
As in Wales, kids are leaving school able to speak the language but seeing no need for it in their communities/workplace. Something needs to be done to change the attitudes towards the language – but what I don’t know.
I think the Gaeltachtaí are very important for Ireland and for the language. They are the last place where irish is spoken as a community language; i think every language needs that to develop and grow.
I think the idea is natural enough, after all these are areas which traditionally are Irish speaking and I even agree with the idea of bribery *to a certain degree*.
But really the problem is attitude, as you mentioned. With or without bribery there needs to be a desire to maintain the language as a living spoken language. I think the Gaeltachtaí are essential to that, as they’re the only place you’ll get a concentration of people who speak the language. There might be more speakers in Dublin but they’re well spread across a multinational multilingual city.
As with Welsh there is no easy solution. I’ll be damned if I know what the best way forward is.
I didn’t know this situation of the Irish Gaeltachtaí… Personally, I found myself in those area many times and in two or three occasions I faced this fascinating language with surprise. Those people I wanted to talk to didn’t know how to speak English, apparently. So it was quite amazing we had to use our hands to communicate.
So, in my personal experience, there are many people who speak Irish on a daily basis, but maybe the youngest people find it hard and useless to speak a language that lead them nowhere.
I didn’t know that the government was financing those areas to incentivate them in preserving the original language.
This sounds to me like the financial support and subsidies that our government gives to the mountain towns and communities… the strange thing is that there are mountain communities that are getting this money but they live in seaside villages…
Tipically Italian, isn’t it?
I suspect they did know how to speak but were trying to be awkward
You’re right there, many of the young simply don’t see the point of using the language since they are using English with many of their friends and tv/news/music/films are all in English.
Do you think they’d pay me to live in a seaside village? I could move tomorrow
Nah, I wouldn’t say it’s typical Italian, it’s no different than the Gaeltacht subsidies and i’m sure many other countries have similar schemes.
One of those times when I found someone who couldn’t speak English was in west Donegal, Malin More was the place. I stopped and asked a girl on the shop door for directions. This girl looked at me as if I was green and got back in the shop to call someone who could help me. It was funny
The other time was in Gweedore, co. Donegal, when the man at the gas station showed me his hands to tell me how much I had to pay. He was not deaf, he was listening to Raidio na Gaeltachta
Jaysus Donegal … all inbred rednecks in that part of the country. Have you ever seen Deliverance? That was based on a true story from Donegal!
Just kidding, nice part of the country actually. There are probably a very small number with limited English but i’d say it really is a very very small number. I work with a company in the Galway Gaeltacht who have some employees who are FAR more comfortable speaking Irish than English but they could still manage in English if they had to.
Yeah, I’ve seen that movie
Well, Maca, thanks for the explanation.
Just out of curiosity, Maca, can you speak Irish?
Are you fluent? Do you like it?
No, I don’t speak much unfortunately, just some basics. I really like the language though and would like to get lessons; trying to learn on your own is difficult.
LAst week I heard the news on TV that your Prime Minister Bertie Ahern resigned after being hit by the corruption scandal…
Well, you know, we Italians are pretty used to this situation. All of out politicians are under investigations for something, so it’s no strange to us when we hear this kind of news. But I think it’s kind of a sudden storm for you… what is your opinion? How do you Irish cope with this situation? Will this event affect your economy or political life?
I’d be glad to read a point of view from someone on the spot.
Sorry for slow reply Antonio, it has been hard to get near a computer all last week.
Regarding Bertie; well we are actually pretty used to this sort of thing too. For decades politicians in this country have been screwing us. Corruption is quite widespread in Ireland; every county council probably has it’s fair share of corrupt officials so it’s not limited to those at the top either. I don’t see this event having much impact on economic/political life at all.
Bertie was more liked than a lot of politicians though; he had that “ordinary man” type of persona which appealed to people; that’s why he got the nickname “Teflon Taoiseach” because nothing sticks to him
No problem, Maca, take your time
Well, what you are telling me is quite a surprise. I imagined Ireland (and most of other European countries) much more ahead in terms of corruption. To be honest, I thought we were the only country with this kind of problem.
As you probably know, we had new elections two days ago because our last prime minister resigned a couple of months ago…
We have a new government, a new prime minister, that is the same we had until two years ago, Silvio Berlusconi, the man who owns TVs, radios, newspapers, magazines, Milan AC football club and many many more things.
They nicknamed him as “Psycho-dwarf” because he’s 155 cm tall and sounds crazy when talks, sometimes he says nonsense. They also recently nicknamed him as “Tar-head” because he’s used to hair transplants and lately he has a very strange look, with his bald head completely covered with new hair that are so dark to look like a tarmacadm road
We’re going to face a new five-years term of disasters and international shame!
Sorry again Antonio, it’s becoming harder these days to get online … very buys here these days.
No Ireland has had its fair share of bad politicians for many decades. I think nearly every country has problems but its always been pretty bad here, IMO.
We’re quite familiar with Berlusconi, i’m surprised he’s back in Government.