Following the row over David Collins calling the Welsh language 'brain dead' I doubt it that any politician would try and stop the use of Welsh in the Assembly Chamber. For one, it is important for AM's to be able to raise questions throught the medium of Welsh, and to encourage others to use the language.
It shouldn't really be up for discussion, but in the Northern Irish Assembly, the UUP MLA David McNarry has set down a motion calling on Ministers not to make statements to the Assembly in Irish. The motion in question also opposes any more legislation on the Language in the North of Ireland, which language protestors are angrily opposing.
To stop the use of Irish in such public arenas seems to remind me of Chris Bryant's summer attempt to have Railway station announcements through the medium of English before Welsh. If we want to develop our languages, I don't think that stifling their public usage is the answer.
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Yn dilyn y dadl pan wnaeth David Collins galw'r iaith gymraeg yn 'brain dead', dwi ddim yn credu y byddai unrhyw gwleidydd wedi ceisio rhoi terfyn ar ddefnydd y gymraeg yn siambr y Cynulliad. Yn syml, mae'n bwysig iawn bod ACau yn medru siarad a thrafod gwleidyddiaeth ar lefel Cenedlaethol drwy gyfrwng y gymraeg, ac i ennyn eraill i ddilyn yr esiampl hynny.
Dylai'r fath beth ddim fod yn bwnc llosg ond yn Ngogledd Iwerddon, ond eto mae'r MLA UUP David McNarry wedi rhoi cynnig gerbron y Cynulliad sydd yn datgan i aelodau cefnogi ei hymgais i sicrhau nad yw Aelodau'r Cynulliad yn siarad Gwyddelig yn y brif Siambr. Mae'r cynnig hefyd yn datgan gwrthwynebiad i fwy o ddeddfu yn y maes ieithyddol, ac wrth gwrs mae ymgyrchwyr ieithyddol y dalaith wedi ymateb yn ffyrnig yn erbyn gweithredoedd David McNarry.
Mae rhoi terfyn i'r ddefnydd o'r wyddelig yn fy atgoffa i rhywsut o ymgais Chris Bryant dros yr haf i ddefnyddio'r iaith Gymraeg ar ol Saesneg ar ddatganiadau gorsafoedd rheilffyrdd yng Nghymru. Os ydym am ddatblygu ein ieithoedd gynhenid, dwi ddim yn credu bod cyfyngu ar ei ddefnydd yn gyhoeddus yn fawr o help.
6 comments:
Anwyl Bethan,
Your comments betray a lack of insight into Ulster and its situation, they are misplaced and slightly ignorant and do no fvaours to the Welsh language movement. There is no paralell between the use of Yr hen iath in Cardiff bay and the use of Irish at Stormont. In Wales the welsh language, on of the principality's two native languages, has surived and is used by thousands of people as their first language and as a means of communication in thier daily lives and is rightly usable in areas of public life alongside English.
Although the Iirsh language survives in some areas of the Irish republic it had been dead in Northern Irleand for up to two centuries. Furthermore it is not recognised as a historic language by Northern Ireland's protestant community, whose ancestors never used or learned it. Whilst many enthusiats do use it or preservse its use in certain incidences, its use in public life in 21st century Ulster is divisive as it constructs an unncesscary barrier between the protestant and catholic people of Northern Ireland, a barrier that at Stormont, as elsewhere we can do without.
Go raith mille mi thugait
(Diolch yn fawr)
I would beg to differ. My mother is an Irish speaker from the Falls road, and would contest anyone who said that the use of the Irish Language is dead in the North of Ireland. It is part of the heritage of those who choose to make it as such in the North, and my family include themselves in that equation.
I am to understand that there will be a language act (which would insure the right to use Irish in public life) in Northern Ireland under the St Andrews Settlement?! There has been some issues with the Unionists i.e Dr Paisley's "over my dead body" comment. However i believe there has been a deal to include Ulster Scots under a language act.
That your mother is an Iirish speaker is commendable in itself, in the same way that anyone who learns a language other than thier native one is. As I said the language does have historic cultural significance for the Roman Catholic community in Northern Ireland, but the attempt by Nationalists and Republicans to impose as a means of communication or, more importantly, of government in Northern Ireland is not a positive or constructive in the inclusive Northern Ireland we need to build. No-one should prohibit people like your mother or myself who choose to recognise the significance of an Gaelighe in certain cultural spheres, but its imposition in government is often seen as an unwelcome means of exclusion by others in society.
I don't think she'd like to be commended, but she'd like the language to be recognised in the Northern political Institutions. your argument doesn't hold,sorry. There are numerous Protestants that have mastered the language regardless of their religious background.
Sorry Bethan, you're still not getting it. Many people in Ulster have learned Irish, (in the same way they learned French, German, Spanish,Arabic, Dutch etc)It is rather a shame that the Irish langauage which once upon a time (like latin) was of some use to some of the people Ulster is badly served by combatative politicians who still seek to use it as a weapon in their unconstructive, exclusivist brand of poilitcs,
from Patrick Pearse to Eamon de Valera to Gerry Adams. Hopefully one day the language will be free from such associations and will be used as a tool and not a weapon. I'm going ot have agree with Edwin Poots, the minister for culture at Stormont when he said that politicising the language in this way would prove counter productive to those wishing to see the language developed in a non-politicised and inclusive manner. That would be a better future for Irish that all the people of Ireland-north and south-could look forward to.
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