I would take Limerick You’re a Lady over Ireland’s Call as our anthem
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Probably written by a few 50 and 60 something year old men in West Belfast.
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My favourite is obviously English words that we make up Irish versions of.
Dawson Street Luas stop for example - Dásain
Iarnród. Iron makey uppy word that sounds like Road.
The Luas is horrendous for it. ‘San seamus’
The Irish language industry in Ireland is there to line the pockets of the few.
I can’t blame the DUP for resisting similar but at the same time they did agree to an Act of some sort and their position almost certainly comes from a position of bigotry.
I’d agree Sinn Fein are probably over egging the pudding around the requirements for the Irish Langauge, but the DPU narrative certainly hasn’t helped things by constantly referring to it as a minority language and lumping it in with Polish and Chinese in every interview.
Learning Irish is probably one of the surest ways to guaranteed employment in this country
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And there’s a clear disincentive for them to have the population actually speak it far and wide.
I’d love to know the exact figure we spunk on the language annually between teachers, translators, radio, tv and the rest.
We often talk about improving STEM and looking for better quality maths teachers which is absolutely correct, but there is little discussion about the quality of our Irish curriculum and what it is actually achieving. The standard to become a Primary School teacher is actually quite high but that is clearly not flowing through the system.
People don’t want to ever question these things as you’re immediately labeled a West Brit. FG suggested removing compulsory Irish a few years ago and the lobby got into action.
The way we learn Irish is all sorts of wrong. The Gaelscoil thing that’s happening at the minute will have a big effect though. I predict a big Irish revival in the next 10-20 years.
Gaelscoil’s are good but I have to question why we don’t instruct more through Irish in regular schools.
Learning off Irish spellings in primary school before you can speak a word of it. Can you imagine if that’s how you learned English. You’d be 25 before you could speak.
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Are primary teachers that proficient? - If it was to be taught as you;d teach a foreign language would they have the skills? That’s the only way to go - up to junior cycle - let it be a choice after that for leaving cert.
It’s odd because the standards are (supposedly) quite high for primary school teachers.
If you don’t come through the Irish teaching colleges there is a large bias against you and you have to jump through hoops on the Irish language part to supplement a U.K. degree.
To be fair though I remember most people being okay at Irish by the time secondary school comes around but then then the learning curve is awful. I used my 5th class Irish essay all the way through secondary and got on grand. Nobody gave a crap about the various poets and stories you had to learn so most dropped down to pass for the Leaving Cert.
agreed
Really? I’d have thought the huge emigration and unemployment in Gaeltacht areas would suggest otherwise.
Isn’t that what Seamus Mallon said about her in the paper last weekend? That she will just repeat what she is told to say?
Or the Fields of Athenry.
They’re supposed to anyway.
I have a family member who went through the UK system and when they came back they had to do a good year of intensive Irish classes, gaeltacht visits and then assessments.
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Between voting for FF/FG and dissing our language at every turn we Oirish really are a pathetic race of people. Slaves.
I personally think Gaelscoilleana should be compulsory. The way Irish is taught in ordinary schools here would put anyone off it. Typical lazy Irish attitude teach a language to pass a test
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