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A DONEGAL COUNCILLOR has said he encourages people to spray paint over English translations on signs in the Gaeltacht region he represents.
As reported in the Irish Examiner previously, several official place-name signs in Gaoth Dobhair have been defaced recently, including a sign for the Wild Atlantic Way.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, councillor Micheal Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig said that he refused to “condemn anyone who takes action to draw attention to the dying breaths of the Gaeltacht” and said he saw the actions as criticism of the government’s failure.
He said that there was some pushback locally to his encouragement to deface official signs, but that the majority of people “know where I’m coming from”.
“I would encourage people to go out and do it,” he said, adding that the Gaeltacht regions were on their “last legs”.
A report from 2007 found that there was around 16 years to revive the use of the Irish language within Gaeltacht areas, but three years out from that deadline and he says nothing much has changed about the government’s approach.
There is a twenty-year strategy for the Irish language currently in place (Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge) which aims to grow and cultivate the use of An Ghaeilge from 2010 to 2030.
In the last Census figures, 1,761,420 people said they could speak Irish, but 558,608 said they only spoke it within the education system. Just 73,803 persons spoke Irish daily.
“To save the Gaeltacht, the state has to be willing to save the Gaeltacht, and they need to invest in it. We have forced emigration: it’s accepted that young people from 18 years onwards will emigrate, but people in their 50s and 60s are emigrating – that’s a very bad sign.”
He said that in the Gaeltacht area that he represents, there’s huge unemployment and the majority of workers they do have are on minimum wage.
“In my village, we don’t have a play area and there’s a serious lack other infrastructure.”
If we don’t have people living here, there will be no one to speak Gaeilge, and the Gaeltacht will die.
He disputes the argument that it’s “bad for tourism”, saying that tourists the world over have to travel in a country where the signs aren’t in a language they speak.
Tourists want to see a living language, that’s one of the reasons they visit the Gaeltacht. If someone has travelled all the way from Italy to here, I’m sure they’ll find their way around.
When asked whether there were other, more constructive ways to protest the government’s inaction in the Gaeltacht regions, the Donegal councillor said that people were already hosting running classes, music classes, sporting events and dances.
But he added: “Somebody went out there and spray-painted a handful of signs and its gotten national attention.”
This government is quite comfortable to sit back and watch an old, beautiful language die off forever… I’m asking Leo Varadkar as the leader of this country to respond directly to this.
What are you going to do to save the Gaeltacht? Come up here and meet the people and ask them what they want.
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Be sensible, all along the Wild Atlantic Way is a tourist area and the many visitors need to know where they are and where there’re going. Tourism is the life blood of such areas.
@Charles Williams: defacing would look like ugly graffiti too – not an inviting place for tourists. Its beneath the good people there, don’t do it.
@Charles Williams: The proper names are in Irish. The signs should show the correct names. When I visit Europe, I don’t expect Anglicisation of the place name so why should it be different here ?
@Sos: hmmm we’re an English speaking country, so tourists expect English signage!
@Al Madzer: Did you miss the part where this was in the Gaeltacht?
It’s a wonderful language and we should all do our bit to try to save it, nurture it and grow it, but defacing signs and encouraging others to do the same is probably not the best way to reinvigorate our culture.
@3isamagicnumber: Irish culture has always had a healthy respect for rebellious protest. There are few things as worthy of protest as the language from which we take our collective name; without it we’re just Sasanaigh.
They’re on their last legs because of numpties just like him
@Roy O’Rourke: he’s a plonker
Numptie & plonker very west brit spake there buckos
@Chief: don’t forget ‘tw@t’. They luv their Sky sports they do!
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: maybe they’re watching the GAA matches on SKY Sports?
@Chief: ok, he’s a pleidhce, a bodach and a 100% amadán.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: yeah, watch your leprechaun films whilst eating your bacon and cabbage !
@John Considine: B’feidir, ach tá sé ag déanamh rud faoi an fadhb. Is maith é sin.
I hate this. I love the Irish language and wish I could speak more of it, but English has benefitted this island hugely and we’ve contributed so much to the language for an island of our size. If you’re thinking about doing this, don’t.
He’s not great with the bearla by the looks of it. It looks like he means emigration when he says immigration.
@Gerard McAuliffe: Níl fhios agam, níl mór an difríocht idir ‘emigration’ agus ‘immigration’ nuair a deireann tú na focal agus tá mé cinnte níor scríobh sé an alt. I’m not sure, there’s not a big difference between ‘emigration’ and ‘immigration’ when spoken and I’m sure he didn’t write the quotes down.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Sí an t-údair atá freagrach, ach is botún simplí atá déanta aici.
I’ve rarely ever heard of a positive outcome from a negative action. All this serves to do is further fuel negative attitudes towards the Irish language. I am an ardent supporter of the language, but this, in my mind, only damages perceptions of the language and those who speak it. Gaeltacht areas have certainly been neglected by successive governments, but what we need are positive measures.
Great idea, make it harder for tourists to try and figure out where they are ( who inject a serious amount of money into the area ). God knows what they think when they see that crap. This guy is a right clown. It’s great that he has passion for the language but this is not the way to try and stop it demise.
@Derek Lyster: Tourists would be trapped not knowing how to leave, he is a genius
@Derek Lyster: yeah because when they go to every other country the place names are translated into English. –
@Derek Lyster: yeah because when they go to every other country the place names are also translated into English. –
@Derek Lyster: yeah because when they go to every other country the place names are also translated into English. –
@Eoghan Ó Braonáin: no they’re not but they should be.
@Derek Lyster: There’s already too much English.
Instead of putting money into translating EU laws and county development plans that no-one will read they’d be better off translating popular culture so that kids dontvwalk out of Gealscoils and leave Irish behind. TG4 should have had Breaking Bad dubbed in Irish, Big Bang Theory dubbed in Irish, the Harry Potter books should have been published a week early in Irish, etc. That is if you are serious about saving the language..
@Squiddley Diddley: not as easily done as you’d think. The reason those documents must be translated is because of the framing of the constitution and the subsequent judicial and legal interpretation of that, resulting in necessary legislation that requires those translations. The only way to get around it, at this stage, is to remove the status afforded to Irish by the constitution which would require a referendum. At that point, emotions will run high and take over any logical discourse. I’m pretty sure such a referendum would, inevitably, be defeated. Personally, I would be in favour of Irish becoming “an official language” of Ireland rather than its current status as “the first official and national language”.
@Squiddley Diddley: Sensible ideas all. I’m not into Irish but it should be supported and made relevant to keep it alive. Take the money spent on everyone having to study it and divert that that cash to solid ideas like yours.
@Gerard McAuliffe: Jews only spoke ‘Yiddish’ as they lost their language, but Now,! Every Jewish person in Israel Speaks; ‘Hebrew’.!!
Their Original Language.!!
@Squiddley Diddley: ramming it down people’s throats in school etc is cheaper and requires less effort…..
Fingers crossed somebody keeps this lad away from the traffic road signs.
Where is Ireland’s tourism capital……… yes Kerry!! Not too many signs defaced down there now are there !! Donegal is every bit as beautiful but they want it spoon fed to them while Kerry people get out and work hard for their trade
@Eamonn O Connell: Bord Failte didn’t know if we were in the North or South for years, enough stupid to go around
@Cathal: whatever that means…?
A complete Amadan, with a fair touch of ADHD
@Brian Mc Elwaine: He says his village has no play area and lacks infrastructure, Portsalon in Donegal has no play area and lacks infrastructure, but he saw fit to recommend sending 16 unfortunate asylum seekers there a few weeks ago, one of the most deprived areas in the country. They have limited english, absolutely no Irish so how does he expect them to navigate around the parish. Any band wagon will do that clown once he’s making noise.
Isn’t incitement to commit a crime, a crime itself?
@Stephen Kearon: He would certainly pay for it here in Germany
the reason the region is failing is due to a lack of GOVERNMENT investment – you know the government – made up of IRISH politicians – not english ones IRISH ! the gaeltacht regions biggest business is TOURISM – most tourists DO NOT speak ,read or understand gaelic -they do however speak ,read and understand english – by encouraging people to deface these signs all he is doing is making it harder for tourists to find their way around the region – that could result in tourist numbers dropping and a loss to the local economy . this fella is typical of irish gombeen politicians -cares more about his own narrow minded agenda than he does for the good of the people !! every constituency in the country seems to have one of these morons as a ‘representative ‘ !
Advocating the defacement of signs that brings Tourists, money and employment into areas like this is another populist rant from someone who has nothing better to do. Someine should ask him why he’s always headline grabbing and doing interviews through the medium of ‘Bearla’.
This from someone who promotes his own brand of dissident republicanism. If he had brains he’d be dangerous.
Well take the price of fixing said signs from his pay packet. What a total numpty.
Absolute hypocritical twit. No doubt if signs in the rest of ireland only had english names and no irish translations he would be the first of the Gael-nazis out complaining. It needs to work both ways. If we are going to have irish names in the majority English speaking areas of the country then need to return the favour.
Hope this Councillor is charged with inciting people to commit a crime.
It’s criminal damage. As a councilor, he is in effect a director of the County Council. He has a legal duty to safeguard its assets. If he things the Donegal Gaeltacht is no more, he should be urging the people not to apply for the deontas (grant). Good luck with that…
In Poland some areas have names in local minority language like Kaszubian and Polish.
English is one of official languages, this councillor should do something better than this childish game.
It’s a nice language, but it’s going the way of Latin. In the new global order, English is the Lingua Franca.
@Josh Hanners: Probably shouldn’t have used Lingua Franca while making your point, though I enjoyed the irony.
@Josh Hanners: Far too easy to declare something “inevitable” as an excuse for inaction.
And right too
That’s one way to piss off incoming tourists trying to get around and find places – which in turn might have a knock-on effect on local revenue intake for small to medium businesses. The taxpayers also pays for the signs, especially if they have to be replaced or someone hired to fix them – so they are losing money there too.
Councillor Micheal Easbuig needs to re-think his daft ideas.
@Unitedpeople: I suppose his name in English is Micky Bishop?
@John Considine: oh ! he’s a ‘mickey’ alright -no doubt about that !
Maith an fear!
@Alan Foley: Is dóiche leat?
@Diarmuid Hunt: Táimid ag caint faoin fadhb, sin an buntáiste leis. Ach tá mór díomá orm an méid daoine ar an suíomh seo ag fágáil teachtaireachtai ina choinne ár teanga. :( Is trua nach dtuigeann siad nach tagann náisiúntacht le seoladh amháin.
@Fachtna Roe: Ní aontaíom leis an slí ach tá an tortha maith go leor. Chun an fírinne a rá níl aon suim agam in aon náisiúntacht mar i mo thuaraim déanann sé níos mó dochar ná maith. Is dóiche liom go bhfuil sé an chultúr agus stair atá tábhactach. Tá mo smaointe ar náisiúntacht ró-dheacair a míniú as gaeilge, níl mo chuid gaeilge maith go leor chun a bheith ábalta argóint mar gheal ar smaointe gabhlánach.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Tuigim, agus sa mór-chuid, aontaíom leat; ach, ag an am céanna, tá sí fíor nach bhfuil morán anam fagtha sa tír, de réir laghdú an teanga. Ach, chun bheith soléir, dúirt mé “náisiuntacht” – ní dúirt mé “naisiúnachas” agus an troid agus an dochar a tagann le sin. :)
Tá daoine ar an suíomh seo ag ligint orthú go bhfuil siad bródúil bheith Gaelach, ach an céad seans atá acu, tugann siad cic don Gaeilge, an teanga as a thógamar ár ainm!
(Mo leithscéal as litriú, níl spell-check Gaeilge ar an ríomhaire seo mar a atá ar mo fón!)
And this will achieve what? – probably as much as the sadistic beatings in previous years. The bilingual signs could be seen as an opportunity to teach people the translation of place-names. Although in many cases a completely new name is concocted for the gaelic version.
@Thomas Sheridan: Are you serious? Most of the English names are concocted versions of Irish words.
@Diarmuid Hunt: I know, but you miss my point. The new Irish name frequently bears no resembelence to the original Irish name that became mangled into english
@Thomas Sheridan: Yes it does, if you have any little bit of Irish or knowledge of logainmneacha you’d realise that most of the English place names are easily enough changed back. Bally – baile – town. Lis/Rath/Dun – Lios/Rath/Dún – Fort. Kill – Cill – Church. More – Mór – Big. Beg – Beag – Small. With just those few words you will understand a huge amount of place names. Lismore, Rathmore, Dunmore all mean big fort. Doonbeg is small fort. Tramore – big beach. The only example I know off the top of my head where the Irish is just a concoction is Cobh in Cork, they’re are probably more but they are most definitely the exception and not the rule.
Feckin nuthead same as Eamon O’Cuiv. Get a life it is 2019 and not 1919
@Johannes Baader: Agus cá raibh as tú?
It makes the countryside like its been swamped by spray can thugs and have unrestricted access to spray paint everywhere. Not exactly the idea you want tourists to see and then go home to tell about?
ITT: People acting like we should all sell our souls for tourism. As if are towns are for tourists, and not, you know, the people actually living there. And also as if learning an Anglicised version of an Irish name is easier than learning the Irish name for someone who might have come from another country. On that note, a look at Kerry and how people are being locked out of the housing market there with holiday homes and airbnbs clogging the supply says that tourism shouldn’t be prioritised over the lives of those living in the area.
As a final note on the spray painting, it’s as legitimate a form of protest as any other, particularly in light of continuous neglect of the Gaeltacht by successive govts, and a their willingness to ignore the complaints of people through any other channels. Why should they respect a regime that refuses to respect them?
Fit him better to educate people about the wonderful iconic place names we have in Ireland .On RTÉ at moment is a series of programmes hosted by John Creedon titled Creedons Atlas of Ireland. It gives a fascinating insight into the meaning of placenames, how they came to be Anglised from their original Gaelic Names. Many Irish placenames describe the landscape where they are situated. One fascinating fact is that in Leitrim there is a vast wood of dark green spruce trees. In the Centre if the wood a man who worked in forest sowed trees with light green leaves in the shape of a huge Celtic Cross which can only be seen from the air and it is spectacular.
@Aine O Connor: I fully agree. Now if only RTE would fix their player or put the programmes online elsewhere, someone might watch them
English signs in the Gaeltacht ? Please
@Aindriú Mac Giolla Eoin: Indeed. Far too many people think being “Irish” is just a matter of living here and having a passport.
Just to give an idea of this guys thinking. His main facebook page while a councilor some years ago had a photograph of another radical proudly holding up an AK47 machine gun. He had to change it following an embarrassing quizzing about it on radio!!!
Is there no law to have this lunatic locked up?
Unfortunately this representative has a history of strange radical behaviour!
What’s hilarious is that when the signs were designed by TII’s design team, prior to installation they would’ve had to have been reviewed and signed off by the Irish Officer in Donegal Co Co. The whole purpose of the national route re-signing programme was to have continuity of signage types across the whole country. Fortunes were spent on designing font, symbols and colours that were scientifically proven to be easily legible when driving past these signs. Kerry Co Co for example have adopted a ridiculous Gaeltacht Area signage policy, drawn up by some “visionary” using MS Word shapes, and are trying to implement this instead of the NATIONAL Traffic Signs Manual standards. Honestly it’s embarrassingly amateur.
And by the way, putting Irish in lowercase italics doesnt diminish its importance or status on a sign face. It makes it stand out, and it makes it clear to anyone driving through any county that it is the Irish version of the placename.
Send that idiot counsellor the bill to clean up that which he is encouraging. Disgraceful.
@Lydia McLoughlin: Isn’t that not a crime???
One way to keep the tourists away, or was he that thick to not know that many tourists don’t know Irish???
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