An tAmadán Gerard O'Regan / The Foolish Gerard O'Regan
The only evidence that Gerard O'Regan's weird attack
on Irish speakers (Irish Independent, 15th June) was written in 2013 and not 1973 is his reference
to Facebook (which, not uncoincidentally, is how I stay in touch with scores of
my Irish speaking friends).
He's right to note that the Irish education system has
often presented an artificial Irish, which Mr. O'Regan and many others consequently
fold into a bizarre "Peig and Jigs and Turfsmoke and Grammar" image
of traditional Ireland. But there's a bright side: the Department of Education
has greatly improved the teaching of Irish, to such an extent that Mr.
O'Regan's friend "Andrea", who has just done her Leaving Certificate,
is now capable of holding basic conversations in Irish, even if it's
"stilted and exam based". Had Andrea done her Leaving Cert in 1973,
even an A in upper-level Irish would have been absolutely no guarantee of
spoken ability.
Mr. O'Regan says that Andrea will have no use for her
Irish. I'm going to be in Dublin this summer, and my two small Irish-speaking
children need a babysitter. Andrea, with reasonable spoken Irish and a good
education, sounds like a fantastic candidate. Perhaps Mr. O'Regan could put her
in touch with me?
Now, please give poor old Peig a rest. She has as much
to do with my Modern Irish as Wordsworth has to do with Modern English.
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D'fhoilsigh an Irish Independent leagan den litir seo, ach níl teacht éasca uirthi ar a suíomh féin. Tá sé ar fáil trí Gaelport, ámh.
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D'fhoilsigh an Irish Independent leagan den litir seo, ach níl teacht éasca uirthi ar a suíomh féin. Tá sé ar fáil trí Gaelport, ámh.
Labels: Department of Education, gaeilge, Gerard O'Regan, irish, Irish Independent, Peig
posted by sacsanua @ 7:08 AM
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