Dublin Continues to Undermine the Irish Language with Latest Policy Moves

News reports circulated this week on further damage done to the Irish tongue by Dublin policy makers. Put together, the recent actions by Dublin paint an ever darkening portait of the Irish Government's increasing indifference to the long term viability of the native language of Ireland.

The Irish Independent report that the government have announced that it is reversing the long standing policy of favouring Irish speakers seeking civil service jobs or promotions. The report in the Independent frames the issue in an article entitled "State Criticised for Civil Service Gaelige U-Turn" . The article describes the diminishment of preferences given to Irish speakers in application for civil service postions and for promotion within the civil service.

In a seperate media report, a spokesman for the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) is quoted condemning the change in policy.  In an article on the web site "thejournal.ie" carried under the headline "Abolition of Points System Means there Won't be Enough Irish Speaking Civil Servants", Mr. Donnchadh O hAodha, who is President of the Gaelic League, makes the charges highlighted below.  The Gaelic League is an organisation that has been defending the rights of Irish speakers since the League was founded in 1893.  The League's support was instrumental in the passgae of the "Official Language Act - 2003", which strengthens the status of the Irish language:

The decision to abolish the bonus marking system without replacing it with a satisfactory system is another blow to the Gaeltacht and the Irish speaking community instead of being ambitious, brave and doing the right thing the Government is going further to weaken the service provided by the state for the Gaeltacht and Irish speaking community - Donnchadh O hAodha".

This most recent controversy over Dublin's failure to support the Irish language follows on recent reports regarding funding cuts to the Gaeltacht Authority (Udaras na Gaeltachta). The cuts to the Gaeltacht Authority, which provides essential services in support of the residents of the Gaeltacht (Irish Speaking Areas), provoked outrage last month when announced. The cuts to the Gaeltacht Authority prompted the following outburst from Senator Trevor O' Clochtartaigh, spokesman for the Irish Language and Gaeltacht for the political party Sinn Fein:

Another example of the lack of respect the Government has for the Irish language and those who speak it.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/state-criticised-for-civil-service-gaeilge-uturn-29713408.html

http://www.thejournal.ie/points-system-irish-speaking-civil-servants-1154210-Oct2013/

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