Irish President Charges Dublin with Obstructing Increase in Gaelic Medium Schools - Irish Rarely Heard in Dublin's Corridors of Power

In the latest salvo in the battle between language activists and Dublin’s malevolent attitude towards Gaelic, Ireland’s President Michael Higgins has condemned the failure of the government to honor its responsibility to the Irish language.  In a recent address to a group of language activists in Dublin, Higgins is quoted questioning the goodwill of Government elites toward the Tongue.  Higgins lashed out at the Government for its failure to facilitate meeting increasing community demands for the establishment of Gaelic Medium Secondary schools, an issue that has surfaced in a number of communities around Ireland. “It is clear that the demand exists for more Irish language secondary schools to give these children the opportunity to continue their education through the medium of Irish, and it is only right that they should be able to do so.” 

The President specifically called out senior Bureaucrats and elected Officials for their indifference to the language.  Quoted in the Irish Times Higgins said: “…serious questions needed to be asked over the “lack of goodwill” towards Irish despite the introduction of legislative instruments such as the Official Languages Act 2003, designed to provide legal protection and support for the language. Higgins continued commenting on the “…troubling lack of visibility of Irish in usage at the highest levels of the public service and that it was a shortcoming that had been a matter of concern to him for many years. Irish is rarely heard in Government departments at the highest level, in local authorities or in State bodies…”

Citing the obstacles thrown up by the Irish government that impede the establishment of Irish Medium schools, despite the surging demand, Higgins stated: " I understand that those who are making every effort to establish schools to cater for this demand are still facing obstacles. While I do not have a role in the area of education policy (the Irish Presidency is a largely ceremonial post), it would be a failure of note if the State could not provide education to children in the first language.”

Sadly, this is nothing new. In 2014 Transceltic interviewed Seán Ó Cuirreáin, Ireland's First Language Commissioner shortly after Mr. Ó Cuirreáin had resigned December 2013 during dramatic testimony before the Irish Parliament. The Commissioner stated his decision to resign was promoted by the failure of the current government to support the Irish tongue: “ If you regard public administration as having two sides – the elected political masters who should decide on policy and the executive or administrative element (civil or public servants) who implement it, I was suggesting that there is a large cohort of people within the state sector (mainly senior civil servants) for whom the language has no importance nor is it anywhere on their agenda.  The civil servants, occasionally referred to as the permanent government, hold much sway and can set the agenda in their own way. While there are many who are favorable to Irish and concerned about the language’s future, there are many, many more who simply regard anything to do with Irish as a thorn in the administrative side.”

http://www.transceltic.com/irish/fight-save-irish-language-exclusive-int...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/president-questions-commitment-...

http://www.transceltic.com/blog/irish-minister-of-education-richard-bruton-reveals-himself-enemy-of-celtic-tongue-of-ireland