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RTÉ JOURNALIST RÓNÁN Ó Domhnaill has been nominated to become the new Coimisinéir Teanga (Language Commissioner) after the resignation of Seán Ó Cuirreáin.
Ó Domhnaill has been a political correspondent on Nuacht RTÉ and TG4 for the last seven years and has also worked on other RTÉ current affairs shows.
Ó Domhnaill will take up his role from 24 February immediately after Ó Cuirreáin’s vacates the position.
An Coimisinéir Teanga acts as an ombudsman service to monitor the compliance of state services in the Irish language. The position is appointed directly by the President of Ireland.
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The Government say that 21 people expressed an interest in the position and that the candidates had a “wide range of experience”.
Ó Cuirreáin’s resignation came amid criticism of the Government when he said that they had failed to improve services to the public through Irish.
Ó Domhnaill, a native of An Cheathrú Rua in Co. Galway, will be appointed subject to approval of the Dáil and the Seanad.
The nomination was announced today by Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley, who said that Ó Domhnaill is “held in high esteem by the Irish language and Gaeltacht communities”
Conradh na Gaeilge are this weekend organising a march in Dublin over the treatment of the Irish language in Ireland.
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An rte functionary takes up cushy number at irrelevant quango!
Hardly earth shaking news.whatever happened to the great
quango cull we were promised?surely this pointless talking
shop would have been a prime candidate for the chop?
Oops that was meant to be in reply to Edmund Murray’s comment:
“Why we waste time, money and resources on this language is beyond me.
Surely this money could be better spent in education in science, business and European languages.”
“Why we waste time, money and resources on this language is beyond me.”
Because some of us consider it worth preserving. You disagree.
“Surely this money could be better spent in education in science, business and European languages.”
Irish is a European language. We already study an additional language in secondary. Business doesn’t require extra funding in secondary. My science lab back in school had everything I needed.
@Buster – you hit the nail on the head with “preserving” because Irish isn’t used is it outside of die hard traditionalists and school children who have no choice. Irish is not a European language in the sense I meant it and well you know it.
I studied other languages in school too but I think if languages such as Chinese, Japanese or even Russian were taught instead of Irish there would be much more doors open to students leaving school don’t you agree?
“because Irish isn’t used is it outside of die hard traditionalists and school children who have no choice.”
I use Irish on a daily basis, and I’m not a “die hard traditionalist”. The idea that anyone who speaks Irish is some sort of fringe lunatic is a really shallow argument.
“I studied other languages in school too but I think if languages such as Chinese, Japanese or even Russian were taught instead of Irish there would be much more doors open to students leaving school don’t you agree?”
No, I don’t agree actually. For 99% of students, Russian or Mandarin (Chinese) have very little practical value for Europeans. We already have access to the largest language market on the planet – English. French, German and Spanish are far more useful languages for Europeans, unless you plan on migrating over to China/Russia.
As I already stated, we already study an additional language in secondary. (Typically French or German). These are the languages the education board considers valuable to Irish students. You can make an argument for offering further languages, but it might prove difficult to ensure there are sufficient teachers to teach the language, and sufficient students who are interested enough to maintain it as a subject.
@Edmund Growing up bilingual allows for easier learning of a third, fourth or even fifth language. I was brought up bilingual, and as such am fluent in Irish and English. I can speak French quite well (though not fluently) and am also fluent in Russian. I can also get by with Polish. Also, there is no such language as Chinese. Is it Mandarin (the PRC’s official language) or Cantonese (the language of most businesses in Shanghai or Hong Kong) that you advocate learning?
Regarding Irish being spoken by die-hard traditionalists…well I’m no traditionalist. Irish just comes naturally to me. I listen to the same music as everyone else. I watch the same movies as everyone else. I like my gadgets. I like travelling.
And what sense did you mean Irish is not a European language? It’d be nice for some clarification there, because you speak about European languages and Chinese in the same sentences!
@ Buster – I don’t think it a shallow argument at all.
I left school in 1998 and since then I’ve completed undergrad, masters and post grad studies, I’ve worked and travelled and never, ever since my
Leaving Cert Irish exam have I used Irish.
I have a wide circle of friends and none of them use Irish in any way.
I know the hours I spent on Honours Irish in the LC were nothing more than a way of getting points.
@Brian – I meant its not a European language in the sense that it is valueless and pointless. Most other European languages have a greater use and have a wider reach e.g. Spanish and Portuguese in South America.
I can still remember enough Irish from school to be very comfortable holding a conversation or reading an article but the point is I’ve no need to and never have since I left school.
No language is valueless or pointless. The ability to speak a language may have certain merits, but the language in and of itself could not be described as valueless or pointless. Also, your comment that “…its not a European language in the sense that it is valueless and pointless” suggests that only European languages have any value or purpose. What about the aforementioned Chinese languages? What about Japanese? Arabic? Hindustani? Malayo-Indonesian? Swahili? Farsi? These languages aren’t European, yet the ability to speak them would certainly be advantageous to the speaker depending on the circumstances of the speaker.
“I meant its not a European language in the sense that it is valueless and pointless.”
I don’t agree with this at all, and I like you have not used Irish since leaving school. Can you explain why you think other languages have an advantage over Irish.
I am educated to the same level as you, and am quite well traveled. I have never used any other language than English. So by your logic we should scrape all languages as school, and teach something useful during that time like maths, or physics, business. Certainly a better understanding of business related subjects would be over more benefit to me in my career.
But the key phrase there is “in my career”. There is more to life than just our careers and how something can help us better them. The Irish Language is part of our national identity, losing it would just be one more small to towards everyone becoming the same, and how boring would that be.
I hated studying it at school, but I’m glad I did now. In fact I wish I had tried harder. Preserving the Irish language is one thing I am happy for my tax to be spent on.
“I meant its not a European language in the sense that it is valueless and pointless.”
So the definition for a European language is one that has value?
The EU has 24 official languages, and an array of others like Basque and Catalan which are not official. The majority of these languages have very little use outside of their own countries. But yet – those who speak them find use for them and continue the tradition of keeping them alive.
I accept that you as an individual have found little use for Irish. I also accept that there are issues with the curriculum, and an argument to be made against Irish being used as criteria for some college courses… But many of us use Irish on a daily or regular basis, and find it as useful and practical as any language.
Being able to speak multiple languages is a gift. I really think your arguing from an emotive point of view rather than an objective one. The Irish language should not be around after everything that has happened it, but yet – it still lives on. And it’s only getting more popular.
@Buster – please can you tell me what instances you use Irish in and how it is useful. I am genuinely curious. Being a teacher or Irish language journalist etc does not count. I mean in your day to day interaction with the world.
Nach é tusa atá ag cur do chuid ama amú anseo ag clamhsán faoin “gcur amú ama” seodtugtar an Ghaeilge uirthi. Más “waste of time” í an Ghaeilge, cén fáth go n-úsáidfeá do chuid am spáralta chun scríbh faoin nGaeilge? Ceapaim féin go bhféadfá leas níos fear a bhaint as do chuid am spáralta chun foghlaim faoin ngnó, Eolaíocht agus teangacha Eorpacha.
If Irish is such a waste of time, then why even spend time commenting on it?Surely this time could be better spent educating yourself about science, business and all those other languages which monolingual Anglophones take such a keen interest in.
So Edmund, because you and your friends have no use for Irish since you left school, you feel it’s appropriate to decide that the language is useless and valueless for everybody. I haven’t particularly used maths since school, asides from perhaps basic addition or subtraction, and yet I’m not deciding that maths is useless and should be done away with. Yet I use Irish on a daily basis as do my children and everyday I see the use and the value of the language.
“What can you do in it that can’t be done in English?”
For one, read Irish literature. The history of this country pre-Famine would be impossible to study if you couldn’t understand the literature and history written before then.
“@Buster – please can you tell me what instances you use Irish in and how it is useful. I am genuinely curious. Being a teacher or Irish language journalist etc does not count. I mean in your day to day interaction with the world.”
I speak it on a daily basis with my friends. I use it in exactly the same way I use the English language – to converse with people.
I’m not a teacher or a journalist. Just someone who happens to be able to speak both Irish and English. You seem to be perplexed at the idea of bilingualism?
@ Buster – I’m not at all perplexed by the idea of bilingualism I am perplexed why someone would waste their time with a dead language used by small pockets of people, of absolutely no relevance or importance in the world, or as someone posted above why would anyone want to read Irish literature?
It’s absurd to keep Irish in schools because of “culture” or “heritage”.
I know I certainly don’t feel like I’m wasting my time when conversing with my friends in Irish. Why would I? It feels natural. Just like it feels natural for you to converse with your friends in English. As for its relevance or importance outside of Ireland – who cares? The Finnish don’t care that outside of Finland and adjacent parts of Sweden, their language isn’t spoken anywhere else. It doesn’t stop them from speaking Finnish. Nor does it stop them from also speaking Swedish and English.
As for “[i]t’s absurd to keep Irish in schools because of “culture” or “heritage”.” The exact same argument could be made for English. Look at the English language curriculum. It’s built entirely on historical plays, poetry and stories. There is absolutely no teaching of grammar, orthography, punctuation or spelling in English in schools, thereby rendering it too entirely a subject of “culture” or “heritage” and nothing more. Also, if people are annoyed about Irish being foisted on them, what about English being foisted on Irish-speakers? Or is it freedom and equality for all, unless of course you happen to be an Irish-speaker?
Jaysus according to Edmund we should even scrap names & surnames and just address each other as PPS numbers.
On the other hand some of the best television available in Ireland is on TG4. If your gaeilge is a bit rusty don’t worry, they’re considerate enough to include english language subtitles.
“@ Buster – I’m not at all perplexed by the idea of bilingualism I am perplexed why someone would waste their time with a dead language used by small pockets of people, of absolutely no relevance or importance in the world, or as someone posted above why would anyone want to read Irish literature?”
The majority of the world’s population are bilingual. Millions in languages less spoken than Irish. Irish is not a “dead language”, by any linguistic definitions. 188,000 people speak it on a weekly basis outside of school according to the latest census, not including the speakers up north which has thriving Irish language communities in Belfast and Derry. Combine both areas – and you have figures over 200,000 weekly speakers of the language outside of school.
You keep demonstrating time and time again that you’re arguing from an emotive standpoint, rather than an objective one. When you keep referring to the language as “dead”, and having “no relevance or importance in the world” – you’re forgetting that out of the world’s 6,500 languages – only a handful are actually spoken widely around the world. The rest, like Irish are self-contained within their respective territories. Welsh is a great example of that. Or Icelandic.
You don’t like the Irish language, we get it. But many of us find great use for it, that doesn’t include schools or the public sector.
It’s handy when abroad with Irish friends, “ta an cailin go deas” and she doesn’t know what we’re talking about. A lot of people I meet abroad once they find out I’m Irish they ask me if I can speak it, I can say a couple of words but not great, it’s a slight embarrassment and wish I was more fluent. I think it’s important to keep it alive, even if only for the tourism aspect of it, it makes us unique. Learning Chinese or other languages is good for trade, but English is the international trade language we are good at that
The language is far from dead. If given a push in the right direction and giving people the chance to use Irish in everyday day life could see positive change in attitude towards the language both for and against.
It needs to be made more relevant to our time as it stands it’s more popular than ever but there’s still negative attitude towards it as many people have said they don’t use it. Say what you want bout the language but if it was more integral to our society we’d be having this debate about English not Irish.
Beatha teanga í a labhairt, agus tá sé a labhairt ag daoine as achan cineáil cúlra ar fud na tíre. Tá staid laidir ag an Ghaeilge go hidirnáisiúnta fosta. Sibhse a deir go bhfuil sé sean-fhaiseanta agus ag fáil báis, caithfidh go bhfuil sibh go hiomlán dall agus bodhar!
Deireann tú go bhfuil staid láidir ag an Ghaeilig go hidirnáisiúnta fosta. Caithfidh mé a rá gur leatsa an fhírinne. Is cuimhin liom lá éinneach i gCathair Pheadair na Rúise trá bhí mé ag glacadh páirt i gcóisir (ní cuimhin liom cúis na cóisire). Bhí lead ann as Moscó (Rúiseach ó dhúchas) agus é ina mhac léinn in Ollscoil Stáit Mhoscó. Bhí sé ag déanamh staidéar ar an Ghaeilig, agus Gaeilig iontach líofa a bhí aige. Bhí an Ghaeilig agus an Rúisis mar fhrancbhéarla eadrainn, gan fhocal Béarla. Chuir sé iontas orm go rabhamar, Éireannach agus Rúiseach, ag caint gan fhadhb sa Ghaeilig in iarphríomhchathair na Rúise. An rud is tabhachtaí a bhain mé as an ócáid sin ná go bhfuil éileamh ann sa Rúis an Ghaeilig a fhoghlaim.
The Irish language is nothing more than niche activity or cottage industry if you will. Im sure its a lovely pass time but so is honey making, carpentry and knitting. It is, at this stage, a novelty just the same as attending a cooking demonstration class.
Beidh mise sásta tacaíocht a thabhairt dó, agus tá súil agam go mbíonn sé chomh díograiseach mar choimisinéir agus chomh sásta obair go dian ar son phobal na Gaeilge a bhí Seán Ó Cuirreáin. Ach má tá meon na stáitseirbhíse agus an rialtais leath chomh naimheadach is atá cuid de na tráchtanna ar an leathanach, beidh jab fíor dheacair aige.
Go n-éirí leat, táim cinnte go mbeidh me i dteagmháil le d’oifig sar i bhfad, (is ionann é sin agus a rá go bhfuil mé cinnte go leanfaidh an rialtas & stáitchóras ar aghaidh ag sárú cearta phobal na Gaeilge!)
one of these jobs for someone with not enough commercial sense to run a Spar and not enough talent sell a song on Itunes. where would he be without the holy grail of public monopolies.
So that citizens whose primary language is Irish can engage with the State in a language they are constitutionally entitled to use and not be subjugated to the role of second-class citizen for being shameful nuisances and wanting to speak their native language. This is a right.
And that’s just the native speakers (who exist, even if you wish they didn’t). There are also people like me who choose to speak the national language despite being reared English-speaking. It is exceptionally difficult (and therefore hardly worth the effort) to access services in Irish. The Language Commissioner’s job is to call the Government on when it breaks the law by not providing these services to citizens who have a constitutional right to them.
I love Irish, when you hear it spoken like on the islands and gaelteacht areas, it makes me beem with pride, that we have a language, but we need to teach it better. Even the young brats on the streets in Wales speak Welsh fluently, why can’t we be proud of our own language and use it more…
If they stopped the criminal waste of time, money and human creativity that is mandatory Gaeilge in schools there might be more than enough money for the state to spend translating its documents from English for the few amongst us who use the language.
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