‘President Michael D Higgins has shown the way by asking us to do more for the Irish language – let us follow his lead’

When President Michael D Higgins visited the Rinn Gaeltacht a few weeks ago he made a simple request of the Irish people: “Déanaimis iarracht níos mó ar son na Gaeilge”. This request seems all the more current in light of Dr Conchúr Ó Giollagáin’s update to the Comprehensive Linguistic Study on the Usage of Irish in the Gaeltacht: 2006-2011.

The conclusions of the report, which warns of the potential end of the widespread use of Irish as a community language in the Gaeltacht, the delays accompanying the publication of the report and the lack of Government engagement with this issue have been controversial.

Reports on the Irish language tend to focus on its core place in our education system, the translation of documents or its ceremonial use by foreign dignitaries. The situation in our Gaeltachtaí, where Irish has been the language of the community for more than two millenniums is rarely given serious attention, probably because the phenomena putting pressure on Irish as a community language are so little understood.

Few question the value to our country’s sense of itself of that language which is uniquely ours, the necessity of its continuity as a community language or the need for urgent action if any part of that heritage were endangered. More.

See: The Irish Times

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