Emmett McIntyre's blog

Welsh languge news this week included the ongoing controversey over the impact of Property Devlopment on the Welsh tongue, and an encouraging statement from the former Group Chief Executive of the Welsh Rugby Union: 

Property Development

A long way from the Highlands of Scotland and just over a two hour drive to the Mexican border, is San Antonio, the second largest city in Texas. San Antonio is home to the iconic Alamo and the charming Spanish Colonial “River Walk” and this year is host to an event sponsored by the San Antonio Highland Games Association: The 15th Anniversary San Antonio Highland Games and Celtic Music festival scheduled to be held  on April 5^th and 6^th , 2014 at the Helotes Fair Grounds just northwest of San Antonio, Texas.   

The Radio France International website rfi.com is reporting that “Regional Campaigners” who blocked French roads and destroyed tax collection portals last year have promised "more radical" protests if the government does not scrap its controversial ecotax and give in to other demands. It is widely recognised that the 2013 disorders, ostensibly in opposition to taxes which were viewed as unfairly impacting the Breton agricultural sector, assumed a Breton separatist dynamic.  

The Irish Times are reporting that the ubiquitous UK food retailer Tesco have announced that “consideration” has been undertaken on  the introduction of bi-lingual self-service check out in its stores throughout Ireland. According to the Times article Tesco have 146 stores in Ireland and separate published reports in 2013 have the retailer enjoying a market share of approximately 25%.

The Irish Times published an article today by Una Mullally under the title “Irish Language Is For All – Not Just For The Fluent”.  Miss Mullally delivers a measured discussion (linked below) on some of the challenges being faced by the supporters of the Irish tongue in their efforts to restore Gaelic to health.  The sentiments expressed are summarized in the following quote from the article: “Our Language is the foundation on which all of our historical, cultural and traditional output has been based.  It’s our language.”

The damage to the Celtic language of Wales wrought by property development in Welsh speaking areas continues to be a principal concern of language activists and is again in the forefront of news on the Welsh language. Language campaigners are reacting with alarm to the Welsh Government’s draft legislation on an overhaul of Wale’s planning system proposed by Cardiff.

The 14 March edition of the Irish Times carries an article that would be laughable if it were not emblematic of the cruel indifference of the Irish government toward the  Gaelic tongue.  Under the headline "Lack Of Irish Speaking Minister 'Disastrous' - No Cabinet Member Available To Take Irish Questions On Day Set Aside For Language", the article describes a dismal diplay of incompetence on the part of the Minister for Jobs , Richard Bruton, who was trotted out to take questions on the day in the year that the Government has assigned that business was to be conducted in Irish.  But this Go

The Celtic Radio Music Awards is a program sponsored by Boston-based Highlander Radio to acknowledge and promote exceptional Celtic music. Nominations for this award are made throughout the year by listeners and members of Celtic Radio. This year nearly 700 songs were reviewed.  After a careful screening process based upon listener nominations, ratings, requests, and other radio statistics, three songs were selected in six categories for community voting.  Categories are Celtic Rock, Traditional, Jigs & Reels, Contemporary, Bagpipes and Roots Traditional.

A company operated by the British government has been ordered by the High Court of Wales to reinstate Welsh language services to its customers.  The Court delivered its ruling against The National Savings & Investments (NS&I) as a result of an application for Judicial Review filed by the Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws in 2013.  The suit was in response to the NS&I decision to discontinue offering bank services in the Welsh language.

The Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaelige) have just concluded the organisations High Council (Ard-Fheis) over this past weekend in the Irish town of Killarney.  The Gaelic league is the main voluntary community organisation that promotes the Irish language in Ireland and abroad.