Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A row over the Irish language and the new First Minister has raised election talk in the North, what's it all about?

New DUP leader Edwin Poots won’t be putting himself forward but the new FM has not been confirmed.

democratic-unionist-party-new-leadership DUP leader Edwin Poots. PA Images PA Images

NEW DUP LEADER Edwin Poots is reportedly set to announce his front bench tomorrow, with the nomination of First Minister becoming an increasingly contentious question.

Ahead of his election as DUP leader, Agriculture Minister Poots said he would nominate a colleague as First Minister, allowing him greater space to concentrate on his role as party leader. 

The past three DUP leaders have each also been First Minister: Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster. 

Foster was essentially pushed out of the leadership by party colleagues and resigned last month.

She had indicated she would stay on as First Minister until the end of June but has since confirmed that she will step down once Poots’ front bench is confirmed. She also confirmed that she would leave the party. 

“If Edwin decides that he wants to change that team, I will have to go as well because I can’t stay with a new ministerial team of which I have no authority, and that would be wrong,” she told reporters last week

Despite Foster’s departure and the leadership contest that saw Poots defeat MP Jeffrey Donaldson, there have been significant recriminations about how she was ousted. 

Another DUP MP, Gavin Robinson, shared a post which stated the treatment of Foster “was not done in our name”

Poots defeated Donaldson by the narrowest of votes among elected MPs, 19 to 17, but his win was seen as a victory for the more traditional wing of the party. 

Yesterday, Poots claimed the EU was using Northern Ireland as its “plaything” and, speaking about recent violence on the streets, suggested the European Commission “doesn’t seem to care about peace”. 

Poots’ nomination for the role of first minister may prove to be similarly divisive, with some claims that it may even lead to an Assembly election.

The mooted favourite to be nominated for the position is Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan. 

Givan is a former Communities Minister whose decision to cut funding for the Irish language was cited by Sinn Féin as one of the reasons it walked away from the Assembly in 2017.  

The Assembly remained down for three years. 

Former Stormont deputy first minister Martin McGuinness said the £50,000 reduction by Givan to the Líofa scheme, which enabled people to attend Irish classes, was one of the reasons he resigned.

A subsequent investigation by Northern Ireland’s Equality Commission found that the Givan-led Department of Communities failed to comply with its equality obligations in cutting the funding. 

The investigation found that equality assessment information was not included for the minister’s consideration.

The Líofa scheme funded at least 100 people a year to attend summer Irish language classes in the Donegal gaeltacht and was established by former Sinn Fein Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin.

Givan had been heavily criticised by republicans over his decision to cut the funding.

dup-leadership DUP MLA Paul Givan PA Images PA Images

The prospect of him returning as First Minister has therefore prompted concerns in Sinn Féin over the impact it could have on Irish language rights and its funding. 

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald TD has reportedly written to other party leaders in Northern Ireland asking for an all-party meeting this week on the issue. 

Sinn Féin is in position to nominate for the role of Deputy First Minister and current Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey declined to say over the weekend if her party would refuse to make such a nomination if it didn’t receive the assurances it required over the Irish language.

The situation has led to speculation that Assembly elections may be called before they are due to take place in May 2022.

New UUP leader Doug Beattie was among those who have urged to the DUP and Sinn Fein to “keep the show on the road” and maintain the power-sharing government. 

Hargey said she wants to see commitments on Irish language legislation in the January 2020 New Decade New Approach deal acted on.

“Edwin Poots himself, who was one of the negotiators around New Decade New Approach back last year, he endorsed that agreement as well as the wider DUP,” she said.

I am hopeful in the engagement in the time ahead around all of the five parties in the Executive that we can bring that legislation through in this mandate. 

There have also been suggestions that Poots’ and the DUP may use the Irish language and the commitments made around it as a bargaining chip as part of efforts to change or remove the Northern Ireland Protocol.

coronavirus-tue-mar-9-2021 Sinn Féin's would likely nominate Michelle O'Neill to continue as Deputy First Minister. PA Images PA Images

Speaking on BBC’s The Nolan Show earlier today, former UUP leader Mike Nesbitt MLA said the Irish language and the Protocol are separate issues and should be treated as such. 

“The Irish Language Act is about culture and I don’t think your horse trade culture,” he said. 

Sinn Féin Senator Lynn Boylan was speaking to reporters this morning and said that her party will “work with anybody” but that Poots must stop using Brexit to explain violence on the streets. 

“We can’t have a situation where Edwin Poots is giving sort of veiled threats about violence around Brexit, so we need him to very categorically come out and say that he will resist any fomenting of any sort of anger or violence or anything like that in the north,” she said.

“If there is another election Sinn Féin will fight that election like it fights any election. But what we want to see is the Assembly delivering for the people of the North. Brexit was done and the DUP played a part in campaigning for Brexit and now they’re not happy with the consequences of that.” 

- With reporting by Press Association 

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
108 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Greg Ward
    Favourite Greg Ward
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 5:31 PM

    DUP being difficult and divisive?? Surely not.

    310
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Johnson
    Favourite Joe Johnson
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:46 PM

    @Greg Ward: They think equality is the same as giving kids treats , just give them one at a time.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:32 PM

    @Greg Ward: Crocodiles bite, Greg, never forget it.

    4
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:34 PM

    @Greg Ward: “Never! Never! Never!”

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute frank_66
    Favourite frank_66
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 5:56 PM

    the bigotry was there long before europe as everyone knows but the dup are living in a different world

    204
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:35 PM

    @frank_66: One where they don’t feed the crocodiles, Frank?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute silveryD
    Favourite silveryD
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:02 PM

    Most people in the south couldn’t care less about a dead language
    They don’t speak it once they leave school as it was usually forced upon them in there.
    I don’t understand why it’s an issue in Northern Ireland…political nonsense for the sake of it.

    113
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:10 PM

    @silveryD: I’ve learned it more since I left school, so did a few people I know. How it’s thought is a problem, I even learned more of it, better, by myself, before my entrance exam to secondary school than I did the whole of national school. Duolingo is a great app and free. There should be more pride in our language.

    316
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Angela McCarthy
    Favourite Angela McCarthy
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:15 PM

    @silveryD: What century do you come from – Irish forced on people in school? is maths, science, history and English also forced on the same pupils?

    You dont understand why its an issue in the North? Perhaps you should not comment on something you dont understand. By the way if the Irish language – your language was dead, it wouldnt be a political issue. Political nonsense – have a think about that.

    228
    See 88 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute silveryD
    Favourite silveryD
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:23 PM

    @Angela McCarthy: its not my language.I speak English everyday.The last time I used Irish was in school.
    At least the other subjects you mentioned are used when you leave school.
    There’s a whole industry about the Irish Language and it’s usually about making money.
    From the people running the houses in The Gailteach to the companies that get grants to set up there. Not forgetting the translation of every official document so that solicitors can get drivers off on charges because there’s a fada missing.
    Its a joke of a language when people can’t read it, write it or speak it leaving school except no one will bury the bloody thing

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute michael
    Favourite michael
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:25 PM

    @silveryD: So you’re surprised issues around cultural identity are important in the north? Really?

    98
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Favourite Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:29 PM

    @silveryD: you know most Irish celebrities and famous people are fluent in Irish. They learn it in private and are fluent but do not go publicly on TV and speak it. It’s a dead language isn’t it.

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leadóg
    Favourite Leadóg
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:30 PM

    @silveryD: You might want to butter up on your English. You obviously don’t know what the word dead means.

    77
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:32 PM

    @Angela McCarthy: it’s clearly a dead language because no one speaks it. What’s the difference between irish and Klingon or any other made up language

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:33 PM

    @Leadóg: I think if anyone doesn’t know what dead means it’s probably the one saying irish isn’t dead which it is

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:33 PM

    @Simon Fusco: the Gaeltachts around the country speak it do they not?

    70
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:41 PM

    @James Reardon: people speak Latin people speak elvish speaking a language doesn’t make it a living language. A country of people speaking it would but not a load of nerds speaking a secret code to each other no it’s dead live with it

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:46 PM

    @Simon Fusco: You really need the difference explained to you? You’ll find it very very hard to prove “no one” speaks it. You’re completely and utterly wrong, and completely and utterly clueless.

    79
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:47 PM

    @Simon Fusco: Wow… Absolutely clueless. Confirmed.

    63
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:47 PM

    @Simon Fusco: you’re comparing apples and oranges, the people in Gaeltachts speak it as their every day language. My manager married a girl from a Gaeltacht in kerry, he and his kids speak it every day in their home as their first language. To compare it to a fan fiction language is incredibly ignorant.

    101
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:49 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: I’m not saying no one speaks it god know the people who do don’t shut up about it I’m saying 7% of the population is essentially no one and it should just be admitted that it’s clearly dead

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:52 PM

    @James Reardon: no it isn’t your manager is one of a very small number of people who speak it as a first language. Do you know how to tell a language is dead. When the only people who speak it speak it as a first language implying they have a second language they need to function in a country that doesn’t speak the dead language there speaking

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:53 PM

    @Simon Fusco: The percentage of people who’ve died of covid is less than 7%. Guess that means they too are “essentially no one”. But also: the 7% applies to people who speak it as a first language. Not who speak it altogether. You’re absolutely clueless.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:55 PM

    @Simon Fusco: dead language definition: a language which is no longer in everyday spoken use. It is. They have English as a second language to communicate with people that don’t speak it.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leadóg
    Favourite Leadóg
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:57 PM

    @Simon Fusco: Nah Simon, if people speak a its obviously not dead. It’s not that difficult to take in.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lita Campbell
    Favourite Lita Campbell
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:57 PM

    @silveryD: You are wrong.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:57 PM

    @Simon Fusco: argue with Merriam Webster if you like:
    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/living%20language

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:58 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: saying I’m clueless doesn’t make your argument make sense the percentage of people who die from a global pandemic and people who are desperately clinging on to a dead language for no reason aren’t really comparable. How is the Irish language not just a hobby some people have that most people don’t care about. Because your argument sort of falls apart when your actually speaking to an Irish person that doesn’t care about the language. Because you can’t say oh the Irish language is great everyone loves it when I clearly hate it

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lita Campbell
    Favourite Lita Campbell
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:58 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: absolutely

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute workhorse of health
    Favourite workhorse of health
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:01 PM

    @Simon Fusco: out of interest, what is your first language? Because it isn’t English with the atrocious spelling and grammar in your posts

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Russell
    Favourite Richard Russell
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:01 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: Yes it is a dead language not spoken in public places such as supermarket or transport. The only Irish I hear is on rte and to me it is a foreign language spoken in a harsh foreign accent not the friendly Cork accent I heard every day. The language was killed by zealots obsessed with blas and proper grammar they created a complex made it uncomfortable for the ordinary citizen to engage

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:01 PM

    @James Reardon: no a dead language is a language that is no longer used to communicate with the only people who speak irish are nerds with nothing better to do. By your logic all the people who love lord of the rings and learned elvish because of it are now speaking a living language of elvish

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:02 PM

    @Simon Fusco: Your argument is that it’s a dead language because you don’t like it, and you’re saying I don’t make sense? Come off it man, you’re wrong. It’s not a hobby because Irish is still the first language for many people on this island, the language spoken in the home for many more, and a second language to significantly more than that. I never said everyone loves it. Putting words in my mouth isn’t going to make your argument make sense.

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:02 PM

    @Leadóg: people speak lots of things it doesn’t mean it’s a language in everyday use

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:04 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: so elvish that’s being spoken by people or that game of thrones language. I mean if the definition is two hole lines it’s pretty cut and dry hahaha

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:04 PM

    @Simon Fusco: If it’s used everyday (and it is), it’s a language in everyday use…

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:05 PM

    @workhorse of health: I speak English but o don’t respect it as a language because the English killed the language of my ancestors they killed it so much in fact it’s now dead

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:06 PM

    @Simon Fusco: is elvish or dothraki or high valyrian the first language of anybody? Probably not. Esperanto, however, is a living language, and also a “made up” language.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:08 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: key word FIRST language which means they need a second because no one speaks the dead language. I speak one language only one you know why cause it’s a living language

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:09 PM

    @Simon Fusco: I’ve rebuffed that argument above lad, you’re completely wrong. I’m off now, like the saying goes, never argue with an idio t. You’ll never convince the idio t you’re correct, and bystanders won’t be able to tell who’s who.
    (“idio t” seems to be perceived as toxic, ironic)

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leadóg
    Favourite Leadóg
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:10 PM

    @Simon Fusco: But Irish is in everyday use. A rock solid fact.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:10 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: just because some nerd speaks it at home doesn’t mean it’s a language that’s alive it’s only spoken by a small few you can’t justify making every child in the country speak it because spoiler it makes people hate it as much as me

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:10 PM

    @Simon Fusco: Yeah, you’ve no idea what you’re on about really. It was clear from the start and nothing you’ve said since has had any basis in reality. Agree to disagree I guess. Have fun only speaking that language you’ve no respect for.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:12 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: every language is made up it’s just that more people probably speak every other language more then irish

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:14 PM

    @Leadóg: can you prove Evesham isn’t in everyday use? While your at it you’ve been to homes where everyone speaks irish all the time or had someone just told you they do it

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 7:14 PM

    @Leadóg: can you prove Elvish isn’t in everyday use? While your at it you’ve been to homes where everyone speaks irish all the time or had someone just told you they do it

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Shepherd
    Favourite Paul Shepherd
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:04 PM

    @Angela McCarthy: well at least maths, science etc have a practical use in the modern world. As for Irish….. I have to confess to being biased coming from a generation who had Peig beaten into them by religious orders.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Billybutcher
    Favourite Billybutcher
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:11 PM

    @silveryD: I disagree my Grandmother learnt irish before English and this was long before the creation of the Gaeltachts. Only 200 years ago a majority of Irish people could speak it. Its not dead but was almost murdered by the English.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Clurichaun
    Favourite Clurichaun
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:22 PM

    @James Reardon: depends on your interests. For me, learning the language was pointless, have no interest in it whatsover. I resent the irish education system for teaching it ( also for religion class, but that is another bee in my bonnet)

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Favourite Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:36 PM

    @Clurichaun: its disappointing that so many people consider Irish they way they do. The truth is that Irish is in par with Latin and Greek in terms of content. There are words used in hospitals where there is no English translation but there is an irsh one, IE “ioscaid” is the Hollow at back of knee. When Europe was in the dark ages its was the Irish monks who travelled throughout Europe and brought with them the knowledge of the written word. The Europe we know today would not of been possible with the Irish monks and the Irish language.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:49 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: It’s quite an old language, and certainly one to be proud of, but for one reason or another we’re happy flush it down the toilet; and there are countries in the world who wouldn’t trade their language for English no matter how practical it was. Other countries have managed to completely revive *actually* dead languages even!

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:49 PM

    @Clurichaun: exactly, like one of my first comments my problem was how it was taught. Hardly knowing vocab, tenths and verbs properly and making you learn stories and poems was ridiculous. Maybe it was my love for any sort of Irish culture that made me relearn it. People have to have an interest to take it up themselves. Some people do, some don’t, no biggie. But claiming no one uses it in their everyday lives is idiotic, we need to properly overhaul how it’s taught. It’s a huge part of our heritage whether people like it or not.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Clurichaun
    Favourite Clurichaun
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:54 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: True, i understand old irish is the 3rd most important vernacular in ancient european languages, it even has similarities to sanskrit eg indian name “nayab” which translates goodness which has same roots to “Naomh” for saint. However, all this of historical importance rather than any practical use. I spend a lot of time learning French myself, which is very rewarding as it has an incredibly rich and vibrant culture, certainly blows the home lingo out of the water.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:57 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: were happy to flush it down the toilet because for our hole childhood it was rammed down our throats by a bunch of mental people. Why do you think people hate it maybe because you kept trying to make us like it when we don’t

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:00 PM

    @James Reardon: shitting in the woods is part of our Heritage too will that be added to the syllabus next year. You say you have a problem with how it’s thought do you think maybe it being compulsory for no reason might be part of it

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:03 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: we’ll if modern history is anything to go by while those minks were helping Europe out they were probably molesting a load of children while they were at it.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:04 PM

    @Billybutcher: so because you can say a language wasn’t dead 200 years ago it some how makes it alive now. Do you know how time works?

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:05 PM

    @Simon Fusco: you’re a gimp. Give your phone back to an adult.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:10 PM

    @James Reardon: wow slow applause for your great argument. Maybe you should give your phone to a monkey it would probably make more of a point by smearing faeces on it then what ever that was

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Clurichaun
    Favourite Clurichaun
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:12 PM

    @Simon Fusco: down with that sort of thing!

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Reardon
    Favourite James Reardon
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 9:43 PM

    @Simon Fusco: welcome to the world of mute. So long geebag.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:40 PM

    @Angela McCarthy: maybe we should also make Latin, Ullans, Greek and Swahili compulsory, they’re about as relevant and useful to the average punter as Irish. You learn it if you wish, don’t make me. I’ll stick with Maths so I can count my fingers after feeding crocodiles, English so I can speak to the world and history so I’ll always know when I’m being fed a load of guff about dead languages.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:44 PM

    @michael: most stone clodders on the Falls Road wouldn’t know a bord from a failte so let’s not kid ourselves Irish is perceived as a cultural necessity by the working class at least. Ditto Ullans on the Shankill.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:45 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: any proof of that? I think you made it up.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:48 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: chillax, Nollaig.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:54 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: curry my yoghurt, Nollaig. Always best to maintain a sense of humour on these occasions, don’t you think? Ernie go braless.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mona Murphy
    Favourite Mona Murphy
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 11:04 PM

    @silveryD: because people want to learn it, speak it, love it. But they weren’t allowed to because it wasn’t on ciriculum in the 6 counties. Why should they be denied it. The Welsh can speak their native tongue. I would love to be able to speak it but was never given a chance am too old now. Its not political nonsense a lot of people really love the Irish language. Who do the dup think they are by blocking it, its them that are making a political issue out of it noone is forcing learning it down their throats. They just hate anything catholic or irish.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mona Murphy
    Favourite Mona Murphy
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 11:10 PM

    @Simon Fusco: you sound like a real duper

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James McErlain
    Favourite James McErlain
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 12:06 AM

    @Boyd Gray: Surely you mean Old Church?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 12:09 AM

    @Boyd Gray: Well, don’t you sound like a dope. I’ll save my sense of humour for people who aren’t deficient in the head and persisting with demonstrably wrong gárbage just because they had to learn something in school.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 12:19 AM

    @Simon Fusco: I kept trying to make you like what..? Wtf are you even on about? I hated Irish when I was in school. I scraped a pass in foundation level in secondary school. Unlike most, however, I didn’t hold a grudge against the language, but the pedagogy. The school system fails the language horribly. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many people from many different countries and if it’s one thing they’re all proud of, culturally speaking, it’s their own language. I learned on my own, and found it not only a great language, but nowhere near as difficult as schooling makes it out to be. Ireland is píssing away cultural gold because it has no idea how to teach its own language, or just lazy and/or resentful árseholes who couldn’t be bothered.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:00 AM

    @James Reardon: why do you think I need to know this? Is it because your sad? It is is t it

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:05 AM

    @Mona Murphy: yes that is true the DUP hate the language for reasons I don’t agree with but making Northern Ireland like the republic for the learning of irish isn’t the answer look at how the language is considered here you’ll only make more people hate it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live in the north but I know what I don’t like here

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:06 AM

    @Mona Murphy: I’m sure I do to anyone who wants to dismiss my opinion and go about things the exact same way

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:07 AM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: subtitle you don’t agree with me so I’m going to ignore you. Very mature

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:09 AM

    @Simon Fusco: No. Subtitle you’re objectively wrong, so I’m going to ignore you. Go to bed before you give yourself a headache. You’re dreadful at this.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:13 AM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: that’s the stupidest thing I think you’ve said. Yes other language are alive I can see why people like them. Irish is not it has no cultural relevance to me because he way it was thought made me realise the only people go speak it are ultimately people who want to take freedoms away from everyone else. You like the Irish language because you learnt it outside of school so why can’t others who like the language learn it off there own backs why do you have to make every child “learn” it when it just turns most people off. You’ve had nearly 100 years the best you can do is 7% do you know what failure means?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 2:22 AM

    @Simon Fusco: TF are you even arguing at this point? I’ve already said I have an issue with the pedagogy (the way it’s taught, just in case) of Irish in schools. I think it needs an overhaul, because it is indeed putting people off. I’ve never argued against that. You still persist with this notion that Irish is a dead language. It objectively isn’t. No amount of bull-headed ignorance on your part is going to change that. You also persist with this ídiotic 7% figure, which as I’ve said, is NOT the total figure of those who speak Irish. If you really have comprehension issues that bad then I can’t help you. Schooling seems to have really failed you, and not just where Gaeilge is concerned.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 3:14 AM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: what are you arguing? That irish is some how a living language despite the fact no one speaks it. You have an idea that just because some people speak it some times that it’s a living language. You have to compare it to other languages. Language is meant for Communication to talk to people or to repeat directions or other silly things they make you learn in school. If anything making it a compulsory subject is killing the language faster

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 3:21 AM

    @Simon Fusco: I’m arguing that even by your own definition of a living language, you’re wrong. You’re ignorant of the language and the extent of its use on a daily basis. I can’t make it any clearer for you. You’re just embarrassing yourself now.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 7:11 AM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: no one speaks it 7% is an actual figure that actually counts as to how many people speak it if and I mean if more people speak you don’t make it past 10% of the population. You still haven’t answered the question why is it compulsory is it because you’d rather have people hate. The language rather then have people learn it the way you did. You’ve contradicted yourself ages ago and you didn’t even notice your brain dead

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trevor mullen
    Favourite Trevor mullen
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 7:25 AM

    @silveryD: speak for yourself

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 7:30 AM

    @Trevor mullen: who do you think he’s speaking for. Here’s an idea how about you enjoy irish without including people who don’t care about the language

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Teresa Ryan
    Favourite Teresa Ryan
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 8:52 AM

    @silveryD: It’s a penal law still in existence.. Think about that and think about who supports this penal law.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noirin Kavanagh
    Favourite Noirin Kavanagh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 10:04 AM

    @silveryD: seriously out of touch in your comment. Why, if it’s dead, are so.many Gaelscoileanna opening up? Yes, years ago it was taught very badly, I would say we were never very good at teaching any other European languages either in the past. I speak some Irish daily and regularly converse with friends through Irish. I’m not from or living in a Gaeltacht, I just love the beauty of the language. Why shouldn’t the people of the North enjoy it too?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noirin Kavanagh
    Favourite Noirin Kavanagh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 10:14 AM

    @Simon Fusco: and just because you hate it we should accept it’s dead? When we know it’s not dead at all, with people choosing to have their children educated through Irish, and Gaelscoileanna on the increase outside of Gaeltacht areas. You might wish it to be dead, but that won’t make it so.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noirin Kavanagh
    Favourite Noirin Kavanagh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 10:24 AM

    @Simon Fusco: Simon, it’s not only Irish you have difficulty grasping, you seem to find English grammar and spelling challenging also. Should we all stop learning and teaching English too?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 10:35 AM

    @Simon Fusco: How did I contradict myself? Where you getting this figure? It’s compulsory because we have several compulsory subjects in school including English. It’s an official language of this country, so I’m guessing that has something to do with it. Why does it even matter what I think about that? Calling me brain-dead but you can’t even write in English, man.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 11:13 AM

    @Noirin Kavanagh: so why should people who don’t enjoy it have to suffer through it for 12 years of there life?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 11:16 AM

    @Noirin Kavanagh: it’s dead tell me if I were to decide to teach my children through elvish does that make elvish a living language too just because you really want to believe it isn’t dead doesn’t mean it isn’t dead if Latin had the kind of stupid people irish has people would still be speaking it and having there children thought in it like the church forced people to do for centuries

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 11:18 AM

    @Noirin Kavanagh: As I said before I don’t respect English because it isn’t my true native language because my native language was killed by the English. You seem to be the one with problems reading if you didn’t see me already say that

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 1:13 PM

    @Simon Fusco: By dictionary definition, it would be a living language. That is, if it were a complete language at all. You keep bringing up Elvish, though officially, it’s not a complete language at all, so comparing it to Irish is apples and oranges. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/are-elvish-klingon-dothraki-and-na-vi-real-languages-john-mcwhorter You calling some people stupid because they speak more than one language, when you speak only one (that you admit you’ve no respect for) is probably the most ídiotic thing you’ve come out with. You still haven’t told me where I contradicted myself though, so as per usual you’re just spewing shíte all over the place and too pig-ígnorant to even realise it.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 4:32 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: it is contradictory to say Irish should be thought in schools when you admitted it was after school when you learned it. Elvish is actually a very complete language keeping in mind the irish for car is carr. Making people learn it when they don’t want to is clearly infringing on personal rights but it’s only children’s right and we all know Devalera was just as happy for the church to take over teaching as he was with making people speak that dead language. I mean it’s not like Devalera could have made a bad decision is it

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 6:28 PM

    @Simon Fusco: I never said it should be. I acknowledged that it is taught, and taught badly, and that it needs an overhaul. You have no argument if you need to resort to putting words in my mouth. Elvish is known to be incomplete. And Carr is a loan word. Just like the Polish say Komputer for computer, or taxi is Taksówka. The language you used to type that ídiotic argument is absolutely riddled with loan words. English as a language is almost entirely composed of them. “I hate maths, it’s infringing my personal rights!” “I hate french, it’s infringing my personal rights!” “I hate history, it’s infringing my personal rights!” “I hate art, it’s infringing my personal rights!” “I hate English, it’s infringing my personal rights!” Go back to school ffs, you know nothing.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 6:57 PM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: how is French art or history imposing on your life? English is the language spoken in Ireland and maths is important for all walks of life. Irish is a dead language imposed by stupid people who argue like you argue by which I mean badly. You have two main arguments both are bad 1 it’s part of our Heritage (like shitting in the woods or English rule neither are things we ask to keep doing and 2 people speak it all the time (my point of elvish is because you can speak that all the time too just like Latin just because people speak it it doesn’t magically make it alive. No one speaks it you like it not everyone

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Favourite Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 7:10 PM

    @Simon Fusco: Ffs you’re a completely brain dead fool. English certainly never imposed itself on your life, that’s for sure. I’m arguing with a fkn nonce with no comprehension skills or ability to construct a sentence. Saying the same old shíte over and over again when I’ve explained to you umpteen times how you’re wrong. 1. Irish is a language spoken in Ireland. 2. I may or may not have wanted to study art, history, or french, but I had to nontheless. I made my peace with it. 3. Irish is demonstrably not a dead language. People speak it. Clearly not people that you know, but nonetheless. Neither of my arguments are wrong, you just don’t like them. Your arguments, on the other hand, are demonstrably wrong.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Fusco
    Favourite Simon Fusco
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2021, 6:08 AM

    @Nollaig Ó Ceallaigh: no they aren’t that’s why your getting annoyed, you had a choice with art or history or French because I didn’t do any of those classes in school yet you think it’s fare that just because some people in the middle of nowhere speak a dead language while sleeping with there siblings and playing banjo to teach it to people in Dublin where people meet people from counties all the time where there languages are spoken everywhere. Even India where England attempted to hail that language people still speak it. It’s interesting you say people speak it yet if I was having this conversation to your face I could just say present one and I’d win cause you wouldn’t find anyone

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Favourite Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:23 PM

    There are Irish language measures included in the GFA. These should of been implemented a long time ago. The North of Ireland is out of kilter with the rest of the Union. Wales and Scotland have their own language acts. You have to ask the question why do they use this as a political football to antagonize their neighbours. The Irish language is 1000s of years old. English as it is spoken today is at best five hundred years old, before that it sounded more like German. It must be that they don’t see their nationalist neighbours as equal to them. They are above them.

    97
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Billybutcher
    Favourite Billybutcher
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:13 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: Exactly saxon to be precise and then a bit of French from their Norman overlords.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 10:30 PM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: “The North of Ireland”? Do you mean Donegal? Everyone in Donegal speaks English.

    6
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Favourite Diarmuid O'Braonáin
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 11:34 PM

    @Boyd Gray: aye and they speak Irish as well… as you well know mo chara… Irish is alive and kicking in the North or Northern Ireland. Sure don’t most of the hardline Unionists speak it every day down the old church area in Belfast known as the Shankill.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 6:58 AM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: you ever been in East Donegal, D? No one speaks Irish.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cooking School
    Favourite Cooking School
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 6:53 PM

    níl aon teanga cosúil le do theanga féin!

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 11:00 PM

    @Cooking School: curry my yoghurt, Cook?

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cooking School
    Favourite Cooking School
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 11:50 PM

    @Boyd Gray: is í ding fein a scoileann an dair

    3
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Boyd Gray
    Favourite Boyd Gray
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 7:00 AM

    @Cooking School: knee h4bber f4ckle, Cookie.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Harris
    Favourite Tony Harris
    Report
    May 31st 2021, 8:00 PM

    I watched the movie ‘71 last night. Brought home all the images, sights and sounds I remember from the news when I was a kid. Stirred emotions. Imagine that! and me a kid in Dublin, many miles away, a different world, but I remember. There are many with what must be unthinkable memories from that time, on both sides. The pure hatred! I’m sure many under 30 in the North do not have the bad dreams that their parents have. Let’s hope they never do. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that they just might! Thank God all I have to moan about are the kids leaving their rubbish in the streets.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute trebloc01
    Favourite trebloc01
    Report
    Jun 1st 2021, 8:37 AM

    Poots is another William Craig

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds