The creeping prominence of the Irish language

Not everyone driving our roads learned Irish in school. French, British, German tourists, Polish lorry drivers etc.

Irresponsible to have warning signs and notices in an obscure (to anyone outside this island) language because 'culture'.

Interesting argument.

If you are saying that Gaeltachts areas need to have English road signs imposed on them then it would be only fair that Galltacht areas need to have Irish road signs in them as well. Another argument for the status quo.

Because I'm sure your argument is really about the road safety and the "irresponsibility" of it all, let me reassure you there are are plenty of standard warning signs and yellow rumble strips on the road too 😏

Relax the cacks @Strumms .

I remember at the time thinking I could get bonus marks if I did my leaving cert french paper in Irish because they published the Irish and English questions on the same paper!

It was 5% up to C grade and tapered down to zero after that, wasn't worth it.

What is it with people and legal cases on boards.ie? I'm being told on this thread to bring legal cases to get librarians to speak to me in Irish, you're wanting legal cases for bonus marks given for Irish.

The only winners are the lawyers. According to the law society "The practice of law through Irish is a growing boutique area of practice"; they even offer advanced law courses through Irish like this one: https://www.lawsociety.ie/Find-a-Solicitor/Clar-na-Gaeilge/Ardchursa-Cleachtadh-Dli-as-Gaeilge

At least it's good to see Irish keeping up with the changing trends in society.

English is a life-skill, Irish is not, so the reverse argument dies there. You'd find it impossible to find a non-Englush speaker under 40 in places like the Netherlands or Sweden, and they don't start learning until about 10 years old - let alone Ireland, which is a native-English speaking country.

Re History - we need less mandatory subjects, not more The curriculum needs to focus on who the students ARE and not what it thinks they should want to be.

You need to take that up with the poster I was replying to, but ultimately this depends on your defintion.

Is education being defined as something that should dictate to students who they are? In that case, yes, I am; but I disagree with the definition.

"Ignore all the evicence of your eyes and your ears and believe only what we tell you - it was the Party's final, most important command."

Not sure why you're dragging me into whether you are "anti-education" to quote the poster. I'd love a good debate on the education topic but let's get back to business.

It's so ironic to quote Orwell's 1984. First in a debate where you are against learning history as a mandatory subject and second against a rights and respect measure (parity of Irish and English) that was introduced at the will of the people to address previous colonial wrongs done in the 19th century.

What about the writer who is the George Orwell of the Irish language? Wait, do you mean you never heard of him/her? Wait, do you want an Ireland where no one will ever hear of him/her by creating cultural barriers to entry?

Irish is as much a life skill as English in Ireland when it comes to culture, history, politics and soul. The majority of Irish people believed and continue to believe this.

Talk about twisting arguments.

I mentioned you because you're the one imppsing an ethos onto students rather than letting them decided what is important for them and Who They Are as opposed to Whe The Are Told To Be.

How the hell does being against mandatory subects make it ironic to quote Orwell? The whole point of 1984 is to NOT be indoctrinated. The constitution arguemtn also diies on the basis that you think the will of the peopel never changes (just becuuse it once was, does not mean it always will be - there have been dozens of amendments to it since it was written).

Irish is not a life-skill. People go about their lives successfully and unhindered without Irish every day. The also experience cultures, are very knowledgaebale about history and vote without little to no knowledge of Irish.

As for the soul - well, who decides what is important for the soul? The State? We going back to 1984?

Eh no - you haven't answered anything - you've just said the same thing again.

You got called out on it because you did it. And you're doing it again.

You did not defend the staus quo, you presented false arguments and misrepresented responces in order to oppose change.

You did not get compared to 1984, your idea that the State should decided what is important to the student got compared to 1984.

And as you have presented no challenges to these points three times in a row, I'm resting my case here. Have a nice day.

It isn't though. "As much a life skill as English"? Not way at all.

And that's the fundamental problem with Irish - the fact that it simply isn't needed by the vast majority of the population for the vast majority of their interactions.

The way it is taught is a problem, but the real issue is that people don't see the language used in a way that causes them to value it or become motivated to learn it.

I've made this point plenty of times before on boards, but the one sentence most people can still remember from Irish is 'An bhfuil cead agam dul go dti an leithreas?'. And why is that? Because you needed to be able to say that before you could go to the bathroom. Kids saw the value of it and learned it. They don't see the value of it in general, and don't learn it.

If people check my post history (almost impossible now, I know) they will see that I'm in no way anti-Irish language. but I am a realist about it.

The exact problem here is that it is not as much a life skill as English. That is what it needs to become, or at least, the level it needs to approach, for it to gain value outside some niche areas.