Scrap the Irish Language Commissioner

Larbre34 · 12-03-2013 02:09PM #1

An Coimisinéir Teanga is at it again, forcing an Irish language awareness programme on the Gardaí, a force so stretched and weary they have barely the time and resources to fulfil their role in English, never mind find the time to learn operational Irish.

All told, An Coimisinéir forces a huge amount of wasted expenditure on state bodies, in terms of signage, reports and publications, made available for a population where 95% of the functional language is English.

So, in this time of belt-tightening, is An Coimisinéir a luxury we can afford? Would the money be better spent encouraging the use and love of the first official language willingly and voluntarily, rather than forcibly?

My name is URL · 12-03-2013 02:12PM

Tá

Seaneh · 12-03-2013 02:13PM

Níl.

Terry1985 · 12-03-2013 02:23PM

scrudaitheoir

Irishstabber · 12-03-2013 02:23PM

An bhfuil cead agam... You know the rest...

My name is URL · 12-03-2013 02:27PM

Irishstabber wrote: »

An bhfuil cead agam... You know the rest...

dull giddy on lacrosse?

kowloon · 12-03-2013 02:32PM

Any more details on this programme?

Pilotdude5 · 12-03-2013 02:43PM

Irish sounds like a cat choking on a hairball.

I will achieve my dream of "One species, one language" someday....

tdv123 · 12-03-2013 02:45PM

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

He's talking about Scottish Gaelic but still makes sense.

Lelantos · 12-03-2013 02:46PM

Oh a debate about the usefulness (or not) of the Irish language, there hasn't been one of these on boards before!

GarIT · 12-03-2013 02:47PM

I thought we were going to get a commissioner that was going to get the Irish language scrapped.

adocholiday · 12-03-2013 02:54PM

I say get rid of it full stop. Irish is a dying language with no practical purpose. The fact that it is still mandatory in schools is bloody ridiculous, never mind the Gardai having to re-learn it! We need to move with the times, kids should be taught languages that are actually useful (German or Mandarin for example) as well as bringing in proper classes in Computers/Networking/Programming which is another argument entirely.

I currently work in the public sector and every publication has to be run past our own internal 'Irish translator' to put into Irish. It's madness and the people who choose to conduct all of their business through Irish are just arseholes if you ask me. We live in an English speaking country - deal with it.

laoch na mona · 12-03-2013 02:54PM

why does ireland have such a colonial inferiority complex that we cannot embrace our culture

GarIT · 12-03-2013 02:55PM

adocholiday wrote: »

I say get rid of it full stop. Irish is a dying language with no practical purpose.

So is that +1 for my 'Scrap the Irish Language' commissioner?

My name is URL · 12-03-2013 02:57PM

adocholiday wrote: »

The fact that it is still mandatory in schools is bloody rediculous

We live in an English speaking country - deal with it.

Well.. you say that!

adocholiday · 12-03-2013 02:57PM

GarIT wrote: »

So is that +1 for my 'Scrap the Irish Language' commissioner?

Yes

Chips Lovell · 12-03-2013 02:57PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

why does ireland have such a colonial inferiority complex that we cannot embrace our culture

It's a good question. To be honest I think there's a large degree of sentimentality attached to the Irish language and, among the zealots, the belief that speaking English makes us less Irish or even more British, which I suppose is comparable to an inferiority complex.

greenflash · 12-03-2013 02:58PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

why does ireland have such a colonial inferiority complex that we cannot embrace our culture

'Colonial inferiority complex'?

Why do sections of modern Irish society have problems with accepting the realities of being a modern, progressive nation?

Skid X · 12-03-2013 03:02PM

Coimisinéir Seán Ó Cuirreáin said he was struck by the fact that gardaí who had been educated to Leaving Cert level and completed training in Templemore were unable to ask a driver "cad is ainm duit?" or seek his address through Irish.ans

On foot of the investigation, gardaí are to receive a laminated card with useful Irish phrases to ensure they can conduct some business through Irish.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0312/376254-garda-irish-language/

What's the Irish for 'Stop acting like a Gob****e and answer the Garda in English'?

Stupid pointless waste of resources.

gobnaitolunacy · 12-03-2013 03:07PM

'In one instance an Irish speaker who had been stopped for a minor road traffic matter in Dublin was arrested and detained until a garda was found to deal with him through Irish.'

FFS that's just being a dick.

ZeitgeistGlee · 12-03-2013 03:09PM

There are better things the money could be spent on, scrap it.

tdv123 wrote: »

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

He's talking about Scottish Gaelic but still makes sense.

Good video and sums up my thoughts but Christ above those dead eyes make him look so creepy. :pac:

laoch na mona wrote: »

why does ireland have such a colonial inferiority complex that we cannot embrace our culture

And why do certain elements of the population feel compelled to consistently push their interpretation of "our culture" onto the rest irrespective of whether they're willingly or otherwise?

laoch na mona · 12-03-2013 03:09PM

greenflash wrote: »

'Colonial inferiority complex'?

Why do sections of modern Irish society have problems with accepting the realities of being a modern, progressive nation?

im not advocating a backwards way of life just simple saying that our culture should not be a source of shame.

however being a colony leads to a sense of cultural inferiority which has become internalised by the post colonial society

Dionysius2 · 12-03-2013 03:10PM

There is no excuse whatsoever for the basic street Guard (as distinct from technician) not to have a few lines of the most fundamental rudimentary lines of Gaelic to enable him to cope with those who wish to exercise their most basic right, ie speak their own mother tongue. God knows billions of taxpayers cash have been spent overall on the revitalisation of the teanga since the foundation of the state and those who came through the national & secondary school system were immersed in it for significant portions of their formative years so what the hell does that say about them that they cannot ask a person for his/her name & address in Irish afterwards? No doubt lots of them can do the business in Irish but there seems to be a few lame ducks.

But that's yet another 15 rounder for another day.

There is a Malaysian girl who serves coffee in a hostelry near where I live and when I congratulated her for (part Englis/part Gaelic) wearing the shamrock and Naoimh Padraig pic this morning, she replied in Gaelic, not perfect but clearly Gaelic nonetheless.
And that girl has been in the country less than 3 years !

krudler · 12-03-2013 03:11PM

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

'In one instance an Irish speaker who had been stopped for a minor road traffic matter in Dublin was arrested and detained until a garda was found to deal with him through Irish.'

FFS that's just being a dick.

That kind of sh1t wrecks my head, and does the Irish speakers no favours, talk about a waste of time and resources. Same as government documents having to be made available in Irish, for the miniscule percentage of people who will ever read them.

ZeitgeistGlee · 12-03-2013 03:13PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

im not advocating a backwards way of life just simple saying that our culture should not be a source of shame.

however being a colony leads to a sense of cultural inferiority which has become internalised by the post colonial society

Who's saying it's a source of shame other than you? Most objections to Irish being mandatory that I've seen are based purely on practicality and pragmatism yet the responses are almost always worded as "Why do you hate Irish culture". :rolleyes:

laoch na mona · 12-03-2013 03:18PM

ZeitgeistGlee wrote: »

Who's saying it's a source of shame other than you? Most objections to Irish being mandatory that I've seen are based purely on practicality and pragmatism yet the responses are almost always worded as "Why do you hate Irish culture". :rolleyes:

thats why its been abandoned it is viewed as backwards and useless which stems from a colonial image of the speakers of irish

ok to be practical i as a person have human rights key to that is freedom of expression which means i can chose to use a language which is connected to the culture i identify with

laoch na mona · 12-03-2013 03:19PM

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

'In one instance an Irish speaker who had been stopped for a minor road traffic matter in Dublin was arrested and detained until a garda was found to deal with him through Irish.'

FFS that's just being a dick.

he was well within his rights outlined in European law

Leroy42 · 12-03-2013 03:21PM

Slightly OT, but what really wrecks my head is when you are going through a Gaeltacht area all the signs are in Irish. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they shouldn't be in Irish, but how come all the english language signs also have Irish on them but then we just do away with that in the Gaeltacht.

Seems as if they can assert they rights to their language but for some reason I, as a non speaking Irishman, must stay out of the Gaeltacht or be made feel stupid.

Gambas · 12-03-2013 03:21PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

why does ireland have such a colonial inferiority complex that we cannot embrace our culture

The inferiority complex lies with those that are ashamed of their first language, and the common customs of their country. You seem to be mistaking 'our culture' with the culture of an Ireland that never existed.

Larbre34 · 12-03-2013 03:21PM

Lelantos wrote: »

Oh a debate about the usefulness (or not) of the Irish language, there hasn't been one of these on boards before!

No, a poll on the usefulness/necessity/mission of An Coimisinéir. Personally I enjoy speaking Irish when I can and I envy those who are fluent.

gobnaitolunacy · 12-03-2013 03:22PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

he was well within his rights outlined in European law

That may be so, but he's still acting the dick in a time-wasting exercise making some obscure point.

It's not as if he came out of a time warp from the 19th century.

(maybe he thought he was in The Wind That Shakes The Barley and the Gardai were Black & Tans???)

Scrap the Irish Language Commissioner

Should the Irish Language Commissioner be scrapped? 183 votes

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