Scots Gaelic Continues to Strengthen - New Gaelic School For Caithness

The online "HeraldScotland" reports, in the popular "Highland Line" column written by David Ross, on the victory for the Gaelic language in Caithness: "The first Gaelic medium primary school department is to open at the start of the new school session in August, Highland Council has said." 

Ross reports that the school will be based at the Mount Pleasant Primary Scool in Thurso. Ross also goes in to some detail about the resistance of some Caithness Councillors in the past to supporting the Gaelic tongue: "They argued that it was on the grounds of cost (Gaelic Road Signage) although the amount of money involved was pretty minimal. But a cultural argument was also employed that Gaelic had never been the language of Caithness; the county's heritage being Norse rather than Gaelic." 

Ross refutes this argument and goes on to quote Dr. Domhnall Uillean Stiubhart of Edinburgh University, that at the beginning of the 19th century  over 50% of all of Caithness was Gaelic  speaking and that Thurso, the site of the new Gaelic medium primary school, was a Gaelic language area.

The new school is an example of the victory of Gaelic Language supporters over persistent opposition. The BBC states in it's article: "There has been resistance to public spending on the promotion of Gaelic in Caithness in the past."

Alex MacLeod, Councillor for Caithness and Gaelic speaker, stated: "Local parents have played a huge part in keeping up the pressure for Gaelic provision in Caithness - I want to pay tribute to their persistence."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/bloggers/the-highland-line-gaelics-making-new-inroads-in-caithness.1375447979

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-23507745