Resignation of Coimisinéir Teanga
It is disappointing, but no surprise, that Seán Ó Cuirreáin has
announced his intention to resign as Coimisinéir Teanga. The legislation that
created his office dangled hope in front of Ireland's linguistic minority, but because
it was given a very limited remit, and lacked any ability to punish
non-compliance, it came up far short of what was needed. In the end, that's not
actually very much: the Irish language community seeks only the basic right to
communicate with its government and agencies in Irish. Is that too much to ask?
Ó Cuirreáin is right to point out the absurdity of our government
demanding that our schoolchildren learn Irish through mandatory lessons for
twelve years, and then refusing to deal with them in that language, instead making
English compulsory, even in the Gaeltacht.
If we are to have a real, functioning, language commissioner, like that
of Canada, the 2003 Official Languages Act must be amended to give our
Coimisinéir Teanga teeth.
Labels: 2003, Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla, canada, Coimisinéir Teanga, Éire, gaeilge, Gaelic, Ireland, irish, language, Language Commissioner, Official Languages Act, Seán Ó Cuirreáin
posted by sacsanua @ 12:54 PM
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