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THIS WEEK SAW a young man forced to walk away from his job after his boss told him his first language was banned at work. His boss thought it was wrong of him to speak Irish in his workplace here in Ireland.
The news saddened me but unfortunately I wasn’t surprised; the idea that it’s wrong or rude to speak Irish is something I hear quite a lot.
On a personal level, I made a choice to speak Irish wherever I could about eight years ago. I wasn’t brought up through Irish but I was speaking it more and more with friends.
I preferred speaking Irish, so why not speak it all the time, wherever I could? I have ever since, with services that are available through Irish, or with the state.
Speaking Irish in public
With this decision came an unexpected fear for me; what will people think if I speak Irish publically? I spoke it in my personal life all the time, but what about asking for services or seeking advice in Irish that are supposed to be available in Irish?
Under the Official Languages Act, the library, the Revenue Commissioners, the Gardaí and hundreds of other services are supposed to be available through Irish.
To my surprise, most people are very welcoming; they understand you are just trying to speak your national language.
I try to be as nice and non-confrontational as I can saying “An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?” (Do you speak Irish?). “An féidir liom labhairt le duine éigean as Gaeilge?” (Can I speak to someone through Irish?).
Even when they don’t understand what I’m saying, they understand the word Gaeilge and usually get somebody who does speak Irish.
‘People will say I’m rude, arrogant’
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes people will say I’m rude, arrogant or that I’m just trying to be smart. Interestingly enough every single person who says this to me is Irish themselves.
I’ve never really had negative feedback from people of other nationalities; most of them have their own languages, and they understand that there’s nothing wrong with speaking your language in your own country.
We must be one of the only countries in the world where you can be considered as rude purely for speaking your own language, even when you try to be as nice as possible about it. How is that ok?
Why bother?
The big question everyone asks is – why do I bother? Would it not be easier to speak English?
I suppose I bother because I speak Irish everywhere else in life. So why shouldn’t I speak it with the state?
I bother because it’s our first language. It has been around for thousands of years, much longer than the current majority language.
I bother because it’s a beautiful language and I want to see it grow and prosper. I bother because if I don’t use these services in Irish, there’s one more chance that they will be discontinued.
I bother for the children growing up with Irish as their first language. I want these services will still be available for them. I bother because every time I do have a difficulty speaking Irish, I know it will be easier for the next person who walks in and tries to use that service through Irish.
Hope
Ten thousand people took to the streets of Dublin in February 2014 during Lá Mór na Gaeilge, with equal amounts taking to the streets in Belfast a few weeks later. People from all areas of the country and all walks of life, looking for more rights to speak our language. We aren’t trying to be difficult- we just want to speak our own language, in our own country.
I remain full of hope for our language. Yes, there are still major problems within our education system, but with the growth of Gaelscoileanna, coláistí Gaeltachta and TG4, we are seeing more and more young people leaving school with a grá for the Irish language.
Let’s create an atmosphere that is welcoming to actually using Irish outside of education. Let’s shift our attitude towards our national language, taking the lead from Wales or Canada where a culture of pride, not shame, is fostered.
Aodhán Ó Deá works with Conradh na Gaeilge as Director of Development. More information can be found on their website.
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Should speak Irish as much as he wants! Obviously just not when people haven’t a clue what he’s saying. Is é ár dteanga náisiúnta!
He wasn’t forcing the language on anyone. If someone is happy to converse in Irish with him fair enough if they wanted to speak in English he was happy to do so he was speaking the same language as the customers
Let him speak hus Irish in the Gaeltacht – enough of this nonsense.
Why should the language be refined to such a small geographical space though? If you don’t want to speak Irish that’s fair enough nobody will lose sleep over that but this guy isn’t causing any harm
@conor – Yeah let him talk Orish all day – customers & staff won’t know what he’s saying – Turn off customers & lose business. Back to the Gaeltacht with him, if he wants to speak Irish.
You’re missing the point, he is speaking English to people too. He is speaking Irish to those who are happy to converse that way
And he finds that out by asking them in Irish. It immediately puts the customer on the back foot. You know, the customer, the one you want to feel welcome and comfortable. When at work you represent your employer.
Aodhán is not talking about working in a bar. He is talking about when he is dealing with services (particularly with the state) he tries to speak irish first. As for the case in Cork, as far as we know the fella was talking Irish to collegues behind the bar and whenever customers spoke irish otherwise he would speak English.
The biggest problem is why we should confine Irish to reservations or the Gaeltacht. It is our national language. I made a friend and because we originally spoke English we continued speaking English until a year or two later we realised that we both loved and spoke Irish so we switched. Why did it take us so long to realise this? Why is it almost taboo to speak our own language in public places? Why is it almost impossible to do so.
Hell even giving a name which happens to have a fada or two gets an eye roll or two and deep sighs of “ffs”.
The man in question was speaking to a customer in Irish because the customer HAD Irish. He wasn’t chatting Irish to every customer who came in the door.
Back to Britain with you, Tá tú an ean salaí.
James..you’re a total basket case stop commenting. The manure is pouring out all your holes.
At this stage with the increase in gaelscoileanna on the east coast, and the decline of Irish in the gaeltachts I would say Irish is spoken as much outside the gaeltachts
@taxpayers champion – The Gaeltacht area’s were originally known for basket weaving & I suggest they stick to that – instead of being allowed to continue weave their way through the Irish taxpayer purse with grants & subsidises & given a licence to abuse those who wish to learn theor native Irish -thus weaving their way through the wallets of people living outside the Gaeltacht – what an abuse. The game is Up. As a side piece of employment, they should also consider returning to the manure business also. Indeed the Gaeltacht Connemara Pony was specialised in producing high quality manure. While this trade has declined over recent years, I have absolute confidence the local gaeltacht community can revive this industry & continue to produce great quality manure. While your manure is good for my roses it can no longer be swallowed by ‘intelligent’ tax-payers in Our State who continue to subsidise the Native’s & allow themselves to be fleeced by UR TYPE.
@art Ol – I agree – These Gaeltacht people think its the Irish Lingo Mecca. No longer. TG.
A wonderful piece and he is absolutely right to keep speaking Irish wherever he want to. It does define his and our identity. Very sadly I feel the language has been hijacked by the fanatics. I came through the primary school where Irish was beaten into us. It became associated with “the leather” every Monday. I have known teachers with a beautiful attitude to the language but I have also know the manic fanatic who have seriously damaged the language. I loved the attitude of Hector and of Des Bishop. They are the future.
Personally I think he sounds like a hipster
IRISH speakers should go “form their own country” because IRISH people are annoyed by them? Hahaha, comical.
They did form their own country.
Jesus, the standard of trolling has gone to piss here.
Don’t feed the troll
Ireland has been more than geography for a very long time.
Natalie, you are beginning to sound a bit like Sarah Palin, whose latest comment on the Native Americans protesting about a pipeline that desecrates their traditional burial sites is that if the Native Americans don’t like living in the USA, they should go back to Nativia.
The support of the Irish language costs about €4bn yearly, and while that is a hefty enough tag, it’s probably ok although I would leave the funding for the teaching of it but remove the obligation to have the Irish State provide all services optionally through Irish. For that matter, why is that the case – either make it compulsory or not so why should Starbucks not have to provide bi-lingual services but the Irish taxpayer does?
How about if people want more money to go to promoting it, there is an optional ‘Irish’ tax available which people can pay to use for promotion. Make it the ultimate democratic decision (and optional in schools).
@Fintan Oflaois Thanks for the fake news story I know Palin is a bit skatty however “On 7 September 2015, the fake news web site The Daily Currant published an article reporting that Sarah Palin had called for Native Americans to go back to their homeland of Nativia:” http://www.snopes.com/sarah-palin-nativia/ Check your sources.
Irish doesn’t define my identity. I’ll define it myself, thankyouverymuch.
The Gaelgores have their own community – heavily subsidised by the State – Let them fonance themselves instead of leatchin off the rest of us & being given a priveleged position in State exam results.
Yes James D…and bulldoze all those castles and raths and ancient tombs and all that stuff ….this heritage nonsense costs too much…….Put the money saved on display for the tourists to admire.
The reason there is a different between state services and private business services is that as a citizen i have a right to communicate with my state through my first language which is also the first official language of the state. Now in the Free Market, business have a right to choose which language to conduct their businesses in. So if starbucks chooses to conduct mostly through English then Irish speakers may or may not avoid them for a place that may have servers who speak Irish. (there are various busineses in Dublin where you can in fact get a service as gaeilge). But since they are not tax funded businesses and we have an open enough market they cant be forced to speak one language or the other.
As for compulsary Irish in schools. Like I get that it feels like its being forced down peoples throats but all across Europe people have 2 or 3 languages from primary school up. Its not that a Spanish person speaks Spanish plus a foreign language but a spanish person may learn Catalan and English… A Slovenian may learn German as well as Serbian. An Italian will have a local dialect/vaiant plus English. An Austrian speaks German plus their local dialect plus English.
An Irish person speaks English… Irish could/should be our “local/cultural” language. Removing it and replacing it with French or German or Spanish will not mean more people will have better skills at these languages because they will never really be able to connect with these langauges at a cultural level and when u travel there you end up speaking English with people. having Irish allows us to appreciate cultural nuances, to understand that languages are different and have different grammar structures etc and help us engage with them at a deeper level.
I learned English and Irish at school. Having Irish helped me to understand the complex grammar structures of slavic languages and also aspects of Latin. Struggling with Irish helped me understand that i can also learn a complex langauge like Serbian… Having a second language like Irish helps us relate more to Europeans and helps us to engage more when we have to learn their language. English/Americans travel and tend to force English as the lingua franca and that gives them an advantage over any converstaion with non-native speakers…
The standard would have to work in both directions equally.
Could I then as an Irish-speaker by equal measure also democratically opt out of my tax money going towards any public services or education being provided in the English language? If yes then – DEAL!
I worry tht this highly principled plan is not possible to implement in reality however.
I have also been told that the much touted €4bn figure is inflated – and its not as if the English-language services are automatically free of charge because they are in English.
@pad O’b – U gombeem typical mucker with ur castles & ur tombs & the rest of ur crap. U’s lot have built ur own castles since the State was founded & were rewarded, falsely by this Banana Republic – with ur Dev & McQuaid & because you can talk a cupla focails ; u & ur lot, think ur more Irish than the rest. Begone u, U PaddyWhackery Lot are a past generation. Best Described as Simpletons at best. Like The Bird in The Field.
@derek walsh – Ur Wrong – BISHOP MC QUAID FORMED OUR COUNTRY & DICTATED OUR CONSTITUTION.
I was once speaking Finnish to my daughter in a pub in Ireland when some eejit of a stranger scowled at us and said: “Speak English”. She snapped back at him, in perfect accentless English: “I’ll speak whatever language I like. You speak whatever one you can!”
I really don’t care what a cowardly, pig-ignorant little bully says about me from the shelter of a keyboard, because your comment reveals more about you than it does about me.
However, I would like to tell my other fellow posters that I do not know who the posters Michael OLainn and Fiona are or where they are based. But I usually enjoy reading their posts and the good points they make.
@ Thomas Delaney (his repeat of an abusive message deleted earlier) Some village somewhere is probably about to beg us NOT to send its missing idiot back.
Do as your told at the end of the day a job is a job
Yes, Thomas (or is that Maria?, LOL) Repeat the same old, same old and get it¨deleted again. You really need help.
I remember reading in the letters page of a UK newspaper about a man on a train who overheard a man telling a hijab wearing woman talking to her daughter ‘Speak English, we’re in England’, another passenger replied ‘we’re in Wales, she’s speaking Welsh’
As a parent to a bi lingual child I see the benefits to a bi lingual up bringing however it’s not Irish that we speak at home it’s Spanish and English. I left school never knowing how to speak Irish fluently and after making an effort myself after a few years to learn Spanish I always feel that I’m missing out not having learnt Irish fluently.
There is so many benefits to a country having its language and fair play to those who are protecting the language! It’s a courageous act that future generations will thank them for!
I do not have strong feelings on it either way though I come from a generation who had the language shoved down our throat. Even today the language is hijacked by those who do more damage with arrogance despite their dedication to the language. Why don’t they just take it all back to basics and stop aiming so high. Make the learning of Irish fun and challenging for kids with real incentives. Might take a bit of effort and imagination and I am sure there are plenty of young innovative Iridh teachers up for a challenge. The policy of replacing Science with Irish in our national schools has been a dismal failure since it was introduced by Dev in the 1930s. Time for a serious review, I won’t hold my breath
When I was going to secondary school in the 90s (did my leaving in 1996) with all languages it was ‘grammar, grammar, grammar’, it didn’t help that some of the teachers weren’t that great. (one of my Irish teachers I also had for English in transition year and she told girls ‘speak the King’s English’ (someone didn’t tell her that Ireland doesn’t have a king and anyway, the correct phrase is speak the Queen’s English as her father has been six foot under for decades) and told us that Naomi Campbell was ‘a very cheap and common person and would be a prostitute if she wasn’t a model’, another teacher I had for Irish and French was a bit cuckoo)
Languages need to be taught so that people are able to converse with people who speak those languages, so what if their grammar is a bit off.
Also some people might not be language-inclined, some people might show more aptitude for maths or might be more artistic.
Irish is an excellent terse language and very expressive. It should be spoken without fear. It is our language, probably the second oldest written mythology in Europe. It should be a source of pride.
Speak whatever language you want on your own time but speak the language your boss wants you too at work
I totally agree. I have worked many times with foreign nationals and remember that slightly uncomfortable feeling when they spoke in their own language. Now that Ireland is multicultural and there will be many non English speakers in the workplace, if we are to insist they speak English so as to not make others feel like there are some secrets being spoken then the same should apply for them, and thus the owner was being fair to all workers given that he stated there were no nationals working there. This is nothing to do with how we support our own heritage and language, it is merely about being fair to all in the workplace. No doubt all those complaining on here are fully fluent in the language and speak it in their own homes lol
Should he explain that to an Irish speaking customer in Irish or English then?
” that slightly uncomfortable feeling when they spoke in their own language”.
care to explain what’s at the basis of that slightly uncomfortable feeling? or to characterise it a little more?
In any workplace, good behaviour, politeness, and avoiding causing offence should be emphasised. As long as the workers can speak English when necessary, and arent excluding other staff by always speaking their native language then it should be fine. This applies to Irish also. If other staff speak irish (as was the case) then when its a one on one conversation it shudnt be frowned upon, but if there are ore staff around who dont understand and who should be included then english should be used. Similarly with customers if the customer wants to/can speak irish, great if not then obviously english should be used.
I have no problem with other languages in the workplace either (again as long as people arent being excluded) but there is a distinction between Irish and “other” languages since Irish is our national language, officially & culturally.
He was not forced from his job. He was not fired and was not placed under any disciplinary action. THIS IS NOT A NEWSWORTHY STORY. IT IS A WASTE OF SPACE.
If it wasn’t newsworthy then why did you consider it newsworthy enough for you to take up space with your comment?
Didn’t you read Danny’s post MIchael? Because he realises J.ie was having a slow news day and re-published this piece to get a few clicks. Jaysus!
Danny, The guy has a case for constructive dismissal. He would probably win too.
I commented on it because it’s an irritating waste of space Michael…too obvious for you?
I’m not convinced of his case nor too arsed about his opinion on it Niallers. No doubt you’ll be full of useful legal advice for him. You might be could enough to pass it on to him…privately.
By all means speak whatever language you want. Let’s just stop wasting money translating every official document into the dying language.
He went to the trouble and made the effort to learn our national language. He should be ashamed of himself. Very unpatriotic. Let’s tear him down and ban the language altogether.
Why is this being turned into some kind of crusade? People should be absolutely free to speak any language they choose but English is the spoken language in Ireland and somebody working in a commercial premises dealing with the public should speak English.
English isn’t the spoken language in my community and you seldom hear it in the commercial premises here. Does that mean I’m not Irish?
@Guy
No where does he call your heritage into question, you’re inventing an insult to try and elevate your argument.
If a pub in your community was happy to have the barmen speak Irish at work then fair play to them. But the bar owner in question probably didn’t understand Irish, the customers probably didn’t understand Irish and being that the owner felt it better to have English as the appropriate language to speak while at work then it’s his decision. A perfect country is where we all could speak both languages, but it isnt.
He said English is the spoken language in Ireland. It is not the spoken language in my community. A safe conclusion from his implication is that my community is not Irish, no? Am I missing something from his condition? Or should I be making my conclusion from conjecture as you seem to have done?
English is the spoken language in about 97% of communities across the country. If you live in an Irish-speaking community then good for you. There are probably also workplaces in Ireland where Polish is the common language. All this is fine and I’ve no problem with anyone speaking whatever language they like – all good.
However, if you work in a public business in an English-speaking region then don’t make it some crusade to proliferate the Irish language or Polish language or anything else – speak the language that your customers speak, that the menus are printed in, that your boss speaks and stop turning it into some righteous battle.
If this barman had some penchant to speak Irish to customers and operate in that language then communities such as yours where this is standard would suit him perfectly.
Ur not wrong. Like obviously in the hospitality industry English is important. We all agree that if the lad was insisting on speaking Irish to the boss or to customers all the time then he needed to be taken aside. However that is just not the case. He spoke Irish with the other barpeople who had it and as spoke english with those who didnt… similarly he spoke irish with customers who came in and wanted a chat as gaeilge and spoke english with the customers who didnt. Thats our issue.
If it can be shown that he was being a dick about it. then sure. but it seems that the boss was uncomfortable even hearing irish. Irish is the first official language. Its an important part of our culture, history and therefore tourism (what makes us different from going on holiday in England?). As long as he wasnt rude about it, ie didnt exclude other barstaff or customers then this shudnt be an issue.
Very fair and balanced comment. I guess on the face of it it all seems reasonable but it’s just hard to know the facts on the ground and who was over the top here.
Fair enough. But I still think you should have a choice in secondary school after junior cert if you wish to keep it on as a language. Same goes for English as a subject
Exactly! Force feeding a language that isn’t taught properly to students is not the way to get people to learn it. I left school absolutely hating irish and with little to no knowledge of how to speak it. Vast majority of people I know are in a similar position. I had a horrendous experience with the language and so did many others. There really should be a choice, forcing it on people is why it isn’t very well liked.
If you make it optional you’ll get the people who want to learn Irish doing it for the leaving cert.
Then there’s a chance that those who dropped it after the junior cert will return to it in later years, whereas those who resented it being compulsory might leave without being able to speak Irish and have no interest in learning it in later years.
In the rush to become ever more multicultural and welcoming to other cultures its likely that our native language will be discouraged because its exclusionary toward the new Irish.
Nonsense. It’s the old Irish who have a problem with it.
Yeah, lets blame the Poles that no one speaks Irish. I bet the standards of Irish is actually higher among the children of emigrants
Thinly veiled racist comment
Many children of the new Irish are excellent Gaeilgeoirs. You don’t have a clue what you’re on about. Immigrant children with English then pick up Irish with ease due to them already having two languages usually.
It’s the white indigenous Irish who have turned their backs on the language
I’ve met and worked with a lot of new Irish who are fluent in their own language and English. Some of them were very puzzled by the situation here regarding the native Irish language…
Mistakes were made regarding the teaching of Irish in schools but I can see the reasoning. Irish was actively supressed for a long time and was in danger of dying out completely. Unfortunately Dev’s approach of trying to beat it into people has backfired spectacularly, the number of Irish speakers has declined steadily and worse than indifference, it’s now despised in some quarters based on the schools experience. Don’t know what the right approach is now though, making it all voluntary would likely lead to final extinction. Maybe the Welsh approach would work…
We should take a leaf out of the Welsh’s book. Their native language seems to be thriving.
I expect its how its taught.
@tom – ask a Gaelgor in this country what they said – in english – & they’ll reply with another pile of different sh!t in Gaelige – Same as teachers – thats why Irish is no spoken widespread in Ireland. The fluent speakers won’t explain as Bearla.
I agree it is perceived as very cliquey, and not without cause. I have no idea what the current curriculum is like but I doubt it has changed very much. I learned as much French in a fraction of the time that I spent on Irish. The focus on both seemed too much on the written word instead of using the spoken language. With YouTube and similar services it should be far easier to learn languages these days.
Whatever your views on the Irish language, banning it in a pub is just a really poor policy. I setup an Irish language group in a local pub many moons ago – and every Thursday we kept the bar open, because they had no other customers besides those of us there to hang out and have a chinwag in Irish.
It brought in business and continues to bring in business for the bar in question. Time and time again we’d get positive comments about how nice it was to hear the Irish language spoken there.
I can’t help but think the bar owner had a chip on his shoulder, and I don’t doubt for a second the barman in question received a lot of positive comments from customers who heard him speak it.
English in comparison is a very restrictive language whereas Irish is very descriptive.
huh? You have something to say in Irish that actually cannot be said in English?
You can translate a lot of sayings but a lot won’t mean the same thing and will just sound like shitetalk. So…actually no you can’t really translate them.
That’s the same for every reasonably well developed language. English is a pretty direct language compared to the Celtic languages and conveys subtlety of meaning through a huge vocabulary. It doesn’t mean it’s superior or inferior, just different.
This subject just drives me to distraction.
In Ireland the language spoken is English, like it or not.
If you want a job in Ireland you must speak English unless it is a job in the Gaeltacht.
Must of us left school with a bit of knowledge of Irish which was beaten into us. Why did most of us leave school after approx 14 years of daily classes in Irish only knowing a smattering of Irish.
Because it was forced on us whether we liked it or not..
I have a Grandchild learning Spanish for one year and he is excellent.
Unfortunately the people who have fluent Irish because it was the spoken language in their home have this superior attitude and show off whenever they can.
I live in Galway and in any supermarket ( including the German ones)on any given day you can hear the young Mothers giving out to their kids in Irish.
The feel they have a given right to roar because they are roaring in Irish!
I also know of a callous murderer who held his victim for three days and did all sorts to him, held up his court appearance because it was his right to have everyone involved in that court case fluent Irish speakers.!
At least now he is serving a life sentence. Think of all the extra money this cost the state.
Love Irish if you love Irish. But don’t expect everybody else to love it with you.!
Well said Mary, Galway is a hot bed for this type of thing and people like this guy are insufferable.
‘If you want a job in Ireland you must speak English unless it is a job in the Gaeltacht.’…tell this to the many eastern europeans who work here with very little and broken english.
@winston. Of course this is true. I have found that people who came to work in Irelad from Poland, Latvia and other Eastern Europen countries have learned English so fast it would leave all of us who tried to learn Irish for 14 years standing at the back of the class.
I believe this is because they want that job badly enough to learn the language and know that it will be a good language to know if they move on to another country.
Where does Irish bring us.
Mary. The dominance of English is an indicator of the future world order taking shape dominated by the capitalist system and one language which promotes advertising through various media to turn us into souless passionless consumers. There is no reason why we as a people cannot learn sevearl languages including Irish just like Europeans. You might as well ask what use is art or culture or heritage or history….
Round of applause for Winston
I’m not that interested in Irish (badly taught at school, other personal issues I won’t go into) but I gave your comment a thumbs down
“I live in Galway and in any supermarket ( including the German ones)on any given day you can hear the young Mothers giving out to their kids in Irish.
The feel they have a given right to roar because they are roaring in Irish!”
And mothers not roaring at their kids is the reason we have so many badly behaved little shites around, I’d rather a mother roar at her kid than have to put up the squeals and screeches of an undisciplined kid.
@Grainne. I think you missed my point. All parents need to give out to their children at one time or another in the Supermarket
They can’t be allowed to run around ad nauseum!
Having lived in Galway for 25 years I can tell you the parents giving out in IRISH Roar.
They also serepticiouly look around to see if anyone is listening.
Can you hear me I am speaking in Irish and my children understand!
We hear you and your kids are brats!
*Wants no more discrimination towards Irish speakers.* *Writes article in English and doesn’t understand the reasoning for that is the same as the reasoning for not speaking Irish everywhere like a tool*
The Irish speakers I’ve met have been well off snobs. Nothing disadvantaged about them.
Gaelscoils seem to be very successful so I wonder why the government does not promote these much more.
I bet he was being a knob and got fired for being annoying
@ Tom Callaghan Great bit of investigative work there, Tom. How long did you spend checking the facts of the case?
I’m with Tom on this one, no one likes a know all and this guys was probably speaking Irish to staff and customers who weren’t interested. We’ve all met one
Honestly he sounds like a bloody wally who likes to push his agenda on everyone else. No one cares about the language except a few sanctimonious do gooders. We had a chance to save it but the chance was missed by the smugness of the people who speak it and the church. Time to give up the ghost.
From a business perspective speaking Irish is a bad idea.
Historically other European languages like French, German, Spanish and Italian have had a powerful and widespread cultural influence. People are interested in learning these languages. It is a progressive step.
European languages are like the great artistic and philosophical movements in that they hold within them the codes of European civilization.
Irish has never had or never will have such status. It is a fringe language. A swirling doodle carved in stone compared to the Acropolis of European thought.
Banning the use of Irish among employees, from a business perspecxtive is a terrible idea, as has been amply demonstrated over the last few days.
Young lad disagrees with company policy of speaking the language the vast majority of it’s customers speaks.
Young lad quits and moans on radio.
Don’t be young lad.
Really Journal… support the Irish language by writing fewer English words
Stoirm mhor instigh san cupán tae or words to that effect.
Speaking and learning Irish should be encouraged. But at the end of the day if you’re workin in the private sector in Ireland, then speak english, unless it is part of the job to speak Irish. Doesn’t matter if you are Irish, Polish, or Spanish, if you’re dealing with or are around customers then speak English.
The journal had a very similar article 2 years ago – right down to the the blocked mouth
Whatever people think of the Language, this whole case has shown that it is a terrible idea for a business to ban the use of Irish on its premisis. If we take the bar owners word, then it seems there was the odd complaint because of his staff speaking Irish now and again.
Since the ban on Irish, he has lost a staff member, the business has been slated in local, national and international media, there has been protests on his door step, online ratings of the business have been compleatly turned to muck and he has lost custome from many former customers if the hundreds of negative comments on facebook and twitter are anything to go by. You can say its his choice to ban Irish, but that may well be the rock his business perishes on.
Some employers are naturally controlling, restrictive, intrusive and heavy handed. The employee may consider himself well rid of a rather unreasonable employer. HR procedures were appalling,y mishandled. Had there been 52 weeks continuous servo vice, there would have been a viable case for constructive dismissal.
I’m not that keen on the Irish language but I don’t think it is fair or reasonable to ban Irish in the workplace.
Imagine placing a language prohibition on other languages!
There was another article in the Journal today about publicans moaning at the danger of them losing British business as a result of Brexit. If it isn’t just doom-mongering and another dimension of an beal bocht, they may have to hope for tourists from other parts of the world, and then multilingual staff will be considered an asset.
The pub owner sounds like a right cac ar oineach.
I suppose it shows the fact that as much as we would love Irish to be our first language, it isn’t. English is our mother Tongue now because of years of poor teaching practices and turning Irish into an irrelevant bore for students, bar Gaelscoil students where the language is approached as fun and interactive. Might be too late to turn it around but it is an invaluable part of Irish Identity.
So we need more gaelscoileanna
Or non-gaelscoileanna can make learning Irish (and other languages) more interesting.
Parents could also help by speaking a few words of Irish to their kids.
But explain that they’re words in another language, my father used to call the car a ‘glustan?’ and food ‘mongee’ (told me years later that it was french for food, I corrected him and told him that ‘manger’ was French for eating), it drove me mad because I thought he was making up words and in my mind you use made up words for babies and I wasn’t a baby (the fact that I also turned out to be autistic probably contributed to my dislike of what I thought were made up words)
Ta an ghrian ag taitneamh go laidir.
Wha????
The sun is shining strongly.
Níl sé deacair.
Irish speakers can be some sanctimonious gits, a pub is a service and unless you’re in the bog, I mean Gaeltacht then English is expected. If I went into a pub and some git spouts another language at me I’ll take my custom else where, the pub landlord has a right to protect his business
Our national language is English you pretentious gimp.
Never figured there were so many gaelagoirs reading the Journal!
Just thought they were mostly people who didn’t want to pay their bills!
Irish is not the native language of every Irish person…this island has at least 4 ‘native’ languages unless you want to really exclusive…
Irish is not the native language of the vast majority if Irish people, English is.
Ah here, you can’t count Ulster Scots as a real language. It’s barely even a dialect, just a makey-uppey pseudo-intellectual Orangeman four-finger shuffle.
Bang on there Ben. It’s actually just a thick Ballymena accent.
the sort of accent any upwardly mobile protestant unionist abandons as soon as s/he can and bates out of the childer
it’s not your country, it’s everyone’s. and the vast majority don’t understand a word of Irish; but you want special treatment for you personally, not equality, because you have managed to study a language that is not used anywhere outside of a subsidised tourist theme park called the gaeltacht.
I can’t speak much Irish.
When my first son was born, I tried speaking Irish to him, but made a mess of it and gave up. But when my daughter was born a few years later I tried again, and I started my son in a local gael scoil. With my daughter I was succeeding – her first words to me were Irish.
But then she was diagnosed with a hearing problem and we were told to speak only English to her. We could no get any Irish speech therapy for her. And my attempts to speak Irish ended.
Happily her hearing improved, and she followed her brother to gael scoil, and on to gael meanscoil, and they both speak Irish regularly. But if we had relied on Irish speech and language services that wouldn’t be the case.
English is also ‘our’ language. In reality it is even more ‘our’ language than Gaelic because it is most people’s first language.
That guy was not FORCED to leave his job. He left because he couldn’t do what he was told.
@ Paula Doran Depending on how long he had been in the job, he could have a case for constructive dismissal. But he’s probably better off not to have to work with and for that unpleasant owner, whose business will probably soon go bust anyway.
A good, non-violent way to teach that fool a lesson would be for gaelgoiri who happen to be in the area to go in and order complicated cocktails as Gaeilge, then demonstrably leave when they are not served through the medium of Irish.
He couldn’t understand 2 go… F*K OFF – God Bless the gobsh!te.
Why do people want others not to understand what they are saying? Have they something to hide? If you can speak the global working language then use it while at work. If you’re in a corner with a friend revealing a secret then use your own secret code or private language whatever that might be. In the USA workers are often told that they must speak English even if another language is their preferred. It’s common practice around the world.
On another point, 200 years ago when most people did speak Irish in Dublin, all people called the city “Dublin”. Now Irish speakers have made up a new name for Dublin ‘Baile Athá Cliath’ so outsiders and foreigners don’t know what they’re saying. It’s as if the new Irish language is designed to be a secret code so outsides won’t be able to understand anything. They even made up a new word for a computer ‘ríomhaire’. What’s that about? Do these people want to make the language impossibly difficult to learn and understand. The Dutch word for computer is computer. Rant over!
There there are you okay hun? So how about we also ban the dublin accent because some people find it impenetrable and unattractive
Dublin City was never a Gaelic speaking city.
Well I’m pretty sure people in Galway and Kerry used to call it Dublin too. Unfortunately we don’t have recordings of people talking from 200 years ago we just have to go on what was written down.
Found an explanation for Baile Ath Cliath – http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056319234
I wonder are the Gaelgorí people trying to insist, anyone working in a bar has to be fluent in Gaelige now – let that shower get their nose in anywhere & they’ll try anything to get an advantage over the rest of us.
The same happened to my sister here in Wales,she worked in a cafe near where she lived and she was talking to someone in welsh,and the boss told her not to talk welsh as the staff are English,she told the boss what he could do with his job and she walked out.
Good for you Aodan,we want our Country Back TOO.Keep up the good work.Down with the EU.
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