Emmett McIntyre's blog

The Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure has announced that the government will continue to fund the Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF).  The announcement comes in the context of the growing strength of the Irish language in Northern Ireland evidenced by the recent increase in the number of students enrolled in Irish medium education.

The Boston Globe in an article under the headline "Fulbright Funding Folly”,  levels criticism against the Obama administration for cutting funding to an exchange program that brings Irish speaking students and academics to the United States.  The Fulbright Program website describes itself as a program established in 1957 and initially administered by An Bord Scoiláireachtaí Cómhalairte (The Scholarship Exchange Board) which annually awards grants for Irish citizens to study, research, or teach in the U.S. and for Americans to do the same in Ireland.

In late 2011 Alasdair Allan, Scottish Government Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages visited Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. Minister Allan’s visit to the heartland of the Gaelic language beachhead in North America included an announcement on the start of a scholarship program funding Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton to visit Scotland and study Gaelic at the expense of Edinburgh.

The following editorial appeared in Ireland's Leinster Express.  Nothing can be added to this eloquent testimonial to the Celtic tongue of Ireland.

There has never been a period in the past thousand years or more when it has not been spoken and written. Even at the worst period of anglicisation and national catastrophe, before and after the famine of 1847, it remained the language of the great mass of the people outside the Pale.

Linguists are in broad agreement that a cornerstone of bringing a threatened language back to heath is a thriving economy within the language area.  And it is with this in mind that Nova Scotia's Office of Gaelic Affairs has invited Roddy MacLean, Scotland's Gaelic Language Ambassador 2012-2013, to give his advice on how to develop the tourism industry in the Gaelic speaking heartland of Cape Breton.

The website "partyofwales.org" under the headline "Only Plaid Cymru Will Promote The Welsh Language in Europe", a sitting member of the European Parliament (MEP) makes an argument for the Welsh language.

The government has given a nod to demands that Welsh Medium education become universally available in Wales.  But the latest delay in action by the government of First Minister Carwyn Jones has not satisfied language activists. 

The following is an editorial appearing on the Website of The Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia, in honour of Gaelic Awareness Month: 

The matter of Gaelic language in Nova Scotia has been a subject of discussion for its advocates for nearly two hundred years. The question most asked is: will Gaelic die? Whatever will be, the Gaelic language yet lives in Nova Scotia and the month of May has been designated to celebrate its achievements.

Turning to the ballot box as a weapon in the struggle to advance the Irish Language, Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) are calling on candidates in the upcoming local and European Parliamentary elections to declare their support for the Irish tongue. 

The Irish Times under the headline “Conradh na Gaeilge Pushes Irish as an Election Issue” reports that the organisation is calling on candidates to make public their position on supporting the Irish tongue so that voters can make their decision on which candidate to support using this information. 

The battle lines are hardening in the struggle to make Welsh the language of instruction in schools in Wales.