It seems Enda has taken to poking the Irish Language Community with a stick.

GaelMise

“Lads, did ye hear the one about the Minister of the Gaeltacht who couldn’t speak Irish?” Essentially, that is what the Taoiseach is asking us while trying to keep a straight face.

Our politicians have often shown great ingenuity in finding new ways to undermine the language while simultaneously professing their unceasing commitment to its promotion, but for sheer audacity and shamelessness Enda Kenny has now set the bar higher than anyone imagined it could go.

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/treibh/they-wouldn-t-would-they-1.1867225#.U8VoY3YwsYo.email

It seems that one major protest on the streets of Dublin this year are not enough for Enda. Needless stupidity seems to be the hallmark of this government unfortunatly.

kowloon

Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht?

GaelMise

kowloon wrote: »

Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht?

No Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, who cant speak Irish.

c_man

GaelMise wrote: »

It seems that one major protest on the streets of Dublin this year are not enough for Enda.

Ah now. He wouldn't give in to the Garth Brooks protestors, he'll never back down to ye.

Mr. Incognito

Can he not learn?

The biggest reason most people are turned off Irish is this elitist attitude that native irish speakers have. If you are not a native speaker there is derision where there should be two open arms for a dying language.

I would think a minister learning the language would resonate more with the public than this martyr reaction

Like that twit on tg4 going round to people in Dublin speaking Irish most of whom werent even Irish and then acting like they were the morons.

Drop the condecension. We are all sick of ye.

GaelMise

c_man wrote: »

Ah now. He wouldn't give in to the Garth Brooks protestors, he'll never back down to ye.

There were more Irish Language protesters, and we will still be protesting long after Brooks is forgotten.

GaelMise

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Can he not learn?

The biggest reason most people are turned off Irish is this elitist attitude that native irish speakers have. If you are not a native speaker there is derision where there should be two open arms for a dying language.

Like that twit on tg4 going round to people in Dublin speaking Irish most of whom werent even Irish and then acting like they were the morons.

Drop the condecension. We are all sick of ye.

You think it is elitist and condecending to expect the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht to be able to speak Irish?
Sure he can learn, but I doubt he will learn fast enough to be ready for his first official engagement tomorrow at 9:30.
In one move the Department has moved from opperating through Irish to having to opperate through English.
Its nothing short of a disgrace.

B0jangles

As gaeilge, le do thoil.

efb

Jaysus sure our dear leader can't debate- in a parliamentary democracy!

Roger_007

GaelMise wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/treibh/they-wouldn-t-would-they-1.1867225#.U8VoY3YwsYo.email

It seems that one major protest on the streets of Dublin this year are not enough for Enda. Needless stupidity seems to be the hallmark of this government unfortunatly.

Why are you protesting about this decision 'as bearla' ?

Merrion

He probably can't do a "pas de deux" or mix lime mortar for an 18th century stone wall neither. Let us hope he can fill out the EU grant applications paperwork for the people who can.

GaelMise

Roger_007 wrote: »

Why are you protesting about this decision 'as bearla' ?

That would mainly be because if I did so in Irish on this forum, I would be banned.
Rest assured I will be protesting about it as Gaeilge outside the Dept. Of An Taoiseach tomorrow.

Roger_007

GaelMise wrote: »

That would mainly be because if I did so in Irish on this forum, I would be banned.
Rest assured I will be protesting about it as Gaeilge outside the Dept. Of An Taoiseach tomorrow.

Good luck with that.:rolleyes:

NegativeCreep

GaelMise wrote: »

That would mainly be because if I did so in Irish on this forum, I would be banned.
Rest assured I will be protesting about it as Gaeilge outside the Dept. Of An Taoiseach tomorrow.

There's an Irish part of After Hours up the top of the forum.

the_syco

GaelMise wrote: »

No Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, who cant speak Irish.

You mean like pretty much every other Minister that the Gaeltacht had? Seems there wasn't many who could actually speak Irish.

Next you'll be saying that the minister of health looked like a health warning...

You've more chance or a protest over GB concert not happening, tbh.

GaelMise

the_syco wrote: »

You mean like pretty much every other Minister that the Gaeltacht had? Seems there wasn't many who could actually speak Irish.

Actually this is the first time that neither Senior or Junior Minister could speak Irish.

Rabbo

GaelMise wrote: »

That would mainly be because if I did so in Irish on this forum, I would be banned.
Rest assured I will be protesting about it as Gaeilge outside the Dept. Of An Taoiseach tomorrow.

This thread might be of interest to you:
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056411706/

mickydoomsux

Do we also have a Minister for Chocolate Teapots?

Karl Stein

Goodness me that's rather thick.

shruikan2553

Thats a bit odd. It is also odd that irish speakers were protesting before this supposedly, about what I have no idea.

Donkey Oaty

It might seem like sentimental nostalgia, and there will be people who will say "the world has moved on, and we need to move with it", but I often think that if we were brave enough, and determined to put our minds to it, we could recreate the times of a few hundred years ago when speaking Irish was illegal.

RayM

If Enda really wanted to poke the gaeilgeoirí with a stick, he would have appointed Damien English as Minister for the Gaeltacht.

_Kaiser_

Of all the issues I have with Enda and his government (and there are many!), this is hardly one of them.

But to keep the Irish lobby happy, it seems the new Minister will be getting a refresher course

"Problem" solved!

Amirani

Same way that Sean Sherlock isn't fluent in research and innovation?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

The track record of Ministers for Finance obviously not having a great grasp on things that we've had recently is grand I guess.

Change the record OP, there's a big difference between people deliberately provoking the Irish speaking community and nobody giving a shít.

GaelMise

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Same way that Sean Sherlock isn't fluent in research and innovation?

To be fair there is probably an argument to be made that Sean Sherlock's mere presence is as damaging to the work of that Dept as is the case with a non-Irish speaking Minister for the Gaeltacht, but this case is particularly blatent.

mickydoomsux

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Of all the issues I have with Enda and his government (and there are many!), this is hardly one of them.

But to keep the Irish lobby happy, it seems the new Minister will be getting a refresher course

"Problem" solved!

Send him on an 8-track player repair course next.

Or teach him how to fix tube TVs.

wexie

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Send him on an 8-track player repair course next.

Or teach him how to fix tube TVs.

actually, those are probably skills that could earn someone a decent living.....

Awkward Badger

GaelMise wrote: »

No Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, who cant speak Irish.

He's the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs. There's more to the job than speaking fcuking Irish.

GaelMise

Awkward Badger wrote: »

He's the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs. There's more to the job than speaking fcuking Irish.

His specific brief in that department is the Gaeltacht. So one of the main fcuking requirements of the fcuking job is speaking fcuking Irish.

Awkward Badger

GaelMise wrote: »

His specific brief in that department is the Gaeltacht. So one of the main fcuking requirements of the fcuking job is speaking fcuking Irish.

As others have fcuking said and has been fcuking reported he's going to fcuking take a fcuking refresher course to fcuking learn the fcuking language to be able to fcuking use it when needed to do his fcuking job. And as I fcuking said there's more to the fcuking job than speaking fcuking Irish.

shruikan2553

GaelMise wrote: »

His specific brief in that department is the Gaeltacht. So one of the main fcuking requirements of the fcuking job is speaking fcuking Irish.

Is it actually a requirement? Suppose with half of them being teachers it should be easy enough to find someone who can ask to go to the toilet to keep the cast of ros na run happy.

kowloon

Is this one of the new junior ministers we are talking about then and not the main minister?

MortGoldman

Ah well, it's not like many people actually really give a **** about the language.

I got very annoyed today, I was on the Luas heading from Heuston Station to Citywest, and the Luas was busy. I got caught in part of the carriage where only the Irish language map was visible. I couldn't figure out where the hell Citywest was. Put it in English ffs!

hotmail.com

MortGoldman wrote: »

Ah well, it's not like many people actually really give a **** about the language.

I got very annoyed today, I was on the Luas heading from Heuston Station to Citywest, and the Luas was busy. I got caught in part of the carriage where only the Irish language map was visible. I couldn't figure out where the hell Citywest was. Put it in English ffs!

That annoys me with Dublin Bus timetables. It's a complete joke the state keeps the facade alive that people actually speak Irish.

feargale

GaelMise wrote: »

Actually this is the first time that neither Senior or Junior Minister could speak Irish.

Who should have been appointed?

hotmail.com

Oops wrong thread.

Cul a cnoic

kowloon wrote: »

Is this one of the new junior ministers we are talking about then and not the main minister?

As mentioned above "His specific brief in that department is the Gaeltacht" and as for the senior minister, well her irish is as good as the junior minister.

It's emerged that neither the senior Minister Heather Humphreys nor junior Minister Joe McHugh have fluent Irish.

Awkward Badger

Cul a cnoic wrote: »

As mentioned above "His specific brief in that department is the Gaeltacht" and as for the senior minister, well her irish is as good as the junior minister.

It's emerged that neither the senior Minister Heather Humphreys nor junior Minister Joe McHugh have fluent Irish.

So would you ignore those two people and give the ministerial positions to other TD's purely because they spoke Irish fluently ignoring all other aspects of the position ?

You have to face facts. There's more to the job than being able to speak Irish fluently. And given Irish isn't used generally in the country those elected, capable and best suited to taking on such a position are less likely to be fluent Irish speakers.

astrofool

GaelMise wrote: »

His specific brief in that department is the Gaeltacht. So one of the main fcuking requirements of the fcuking job is speaking fcuking Irish.

Well, look at it this way, when he makes his speech "as bearla" 100% of the electorate will be able to understand, unless you think his job is only to communicate to the ever decreasing number of Irish speakers?

wexie

Awkward Badger wrote: »

So would you ignore those two people and give the ministerial positions to other TD's purely because they spoke Irish fluently ignoring all other aspects of the position ?

You have to face facts. There's more to the job than being able to speak Irish fluently. And given Irish isn't used generally in the country those elected, capable and best suited to taking on such a position are less likely to be fluent Irish speakers.

Were there even any 'suitable' candidates that are actually 'fluent'.

If not....what does that tell us?

Food for thought....

131spanner

The Irish language has been getting awful abuse on AH with the past few weeks.

Anywho, in relation to the OP, you would've thought having the cúpla focail would be a requirement, but evidently not. Sadly, I'm not surprised at anything the Irish government do any more.

_Whimsical_

On the front page of boards this thread title has been cut short and reads :

It seems Enda has taken to poking the Irish Language Community with a sti

First he hires a junior minister with no Irish and now this ?!?

Bipolar Joe

GaelMise wrote: »

That would mainly be because if I did so in Irish on this forum, I would be banned.
Rest assured I will be protesting about it as Gaeilge outside the Dept. Of An Taoiseach tomorrow.

Why bother, apparently they won't be able to understand you.

Cul a cnoic

Awkward Badger wrote: »

So would you ignore those two people and give the ministerial positions to other TD's purely because they spoke Irish fluently ignoring all other aspects of the position ?

You have to face facts. There's more to the job than being able to speak Irish fluently. And given Irish isn't used generally in the country those elected, capable and best suited to taking on such a position are less likely to be fluent Irish speakers.

I believe it has always been standard practice for questions to the Minister\Junior Minister of the Gaeltacht to be be in Irish.

HurtLocker

And Leo Vardakar isn't a doctor. Unfortunately for the Irish lobby nobody really cares. We want him to speak in English when he addresses us anyway. If the lanuage was alive and not on state funded life support this wouldn't be an issue. The idea that a none speaker got the position and this is bad for the lanuage shows how weak the lanuage is.

As a none speaker he better understands the general publics perception of the lanuage too.

Awkward Badger

Cul a cnoic wrote: »

I believe it has always been standard practice for questions to the Minister\Junior Minister of the Gaeltacht to be be in Irish.

So you would have literally anyone else as long as they could speak fluent Irish to take a ministerial position in government ?

I'm sure those ministers will refresh their Irish to enable them to do their jobs if its necessary. Otherwise I see no reason to prioritise fluency in Irish over being capable of taking on a ministerial position. It would be better if they did speak it fluently but its hardly a travesty that they don't. If needs be a translator would be a better option than simply giving a ministerial position to a TD because of the language they spoke.

obplayer

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Of all the issues I have with Enda and his government (and there are many!), this is hardly one of them.

But to keep the Irish lobby happy, it seems the new Minister will be getting a refresher course

"Problem" solved!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPqT6_TkU6Q

dxhound2005

HurtLocker wrote: »

And Leo Vardakar isn't a doctor. Unfortunately for the Irish lobby nobody really cares. We want him to speak in English when he addresses us anyway. If the lanuage was alive and not on state funded life support this wouldn't be an issue. The idea that a none speaker got the position and this is bad for the lanuage shows how weak the lanuage is.

As a none speaker he better understands the general publics perception of the lanuage too.

Leo Vardakar may not be a doctor but Leo Varadkar is a doctor.

HurtLocker

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Leo Vardakar may not be a doctor but Leo Varadkar is a doctor.

Crap I feel like a right twat. Always thought he was a teacher :L

old_aussie

B0jangles wrote: »

As gaeilge, le do thoil.

Well that didn't go very far.