Blogs

The Faeries must have been at the pints of the President of America's prestigious Council of Foreign Relations during his many trips to Belfast in his capacity as the Chair of the “Northern Ireland Inter-Party Talks Dealing with Parades, Flags and the Past”. Mr Haass also served as “United States Special Envoy to Northern Ireland.” This icon of the American power structure is reported in multiple news accounts declaring in favour of the Irish tongue being made an official language of Northern Ireland.

As reported by Transceltic in April of this year, the Welsh government’s response to issues raised in two separate independent reports on the future of the Welsh tongue were attacked by the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) and the Party Of Wales (Plaid Cymru). At the time Robin Farrar, Chair of the Welsh Language Society, characterised the government’s response to the findings of two separate commissions as a “complete farce”, stating: “They (the Welsh Government) continue to delay and refuse to make important changes.  They have chosen to ignore or reject any recommenda

The website "The Press and Journal" under the headline "Bumper Line-Up For Provincial Mod" reports that the Inverness provincial Mod (a celebration of Scots Gaelic culture and language) has attracted a record number of participants. The event in Inverness is one of 21 Provincial Mods held throughout Scotland leading up to the National Mod held this year, also in Inverness, the second week of October, 2014.

An awards ceremony has been held in Cardiff to recognise and honour health care workers who provide quality health care in the Welsh tongue.  This ceremony comes in the context of the recent report from Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws which highlighted concerns raised by Welsh speaking patients about healthcare services provided in their own language.  

The annual Ned Maddrell Lecture took place this year at Tynwald Mills in St John's with guest speaker, Finbarr Bradley, discussing The Manx Creative Edge: Why Authenticity and Place Matter.

Scholars from the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic College, will attend the “Rannasachadh na Gaidhlig”, an academic conference sponsored by the University of Edinburgh.  The biennial academic conference, first held in 2000, promotes research on “...all topics related to Gaelic as well as to promoted research through the medium of Gaelic”.

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 campaign for the reunification of Nantes and Loire Atlantique with the rest of Brittany continues to gain pace. The French establishment remains determined to keep the Loire Atlantique separated from other areas in Brittany. This separation was undertaken against the wishes of the Breton people in 1941 by the Vichy regime. With the regional reorganisation currently being discussed by the French government a golden opportunity to correct this wrong is being missed.

The Scottish National Party has launched a draft constitution for discussion should Scotland vote to become an independent sovereign nation. As reported in The Guardian newspaper it confirms that the saltire will continue to serve as the national flag of Scotland and that the choice of national anthem will be made by the Scottish parliament.

As reported in Wales On-line Welsh language protesters have set up an Occupy camp outside of the Senedd, the offices of the National Assembly for Wales. The action being undertaken by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg is part of a series of protests in support of government action to support the Welsh language. Robin Farrar, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, said: “I’m delighted to be here today – we want to live in Welsh and to see action to deliver that vision.