Irish Language being snubbed by EU

Ok JigTime is a music site and not one prone to any sort of political commentary. But I need to ask one question this week. Is the Irish government peopled by a bunch of complete idiots?

Some might see that as a rhetorical question but as I said I am not usually prone to expressing any political opinions on this forum.

So why now am I asking for clarification of the sanity of those who are elected to take care of my native home?

Well there is a bill pending in the European Union which would recognize 20 official languages. For some reason Ireland is the only member state whose language is not on this list. Not only that but it appears that the Irish government agree with this ludicrous idea. Now I can't see any possible reason for this. Why would our government agree to this and what purpose would it serve? Even if you are someone who doesn't even speak the language or has no interest in the issue you have to ask yourself at least one question. Who thought of this ridiculous idea? There is someone employed by the EU who has spent a great deal of time and is now wasting more time and tax payers money with this nonsense. The EU members need to find this person and transfer them to a very manual labor job on the streets of their home city. They have no place in any government system or even any job that requires sensible thought.

I am someone who has sadly forgotten a lot of the Irish I learned at school. In the end I blame myself but there were other factors. The way Irish was taught at school in those days was less than exciting. The teachers seemed to teach with the attitude that the government made them teach Irish but in the end there was no practical use for it.

It was only a few years later when I started to fall in love with our own traditional music that I started to appreciate the beauty of the language as well. This wasn't just in the lovely songs, poetry and prose that I discovered through meeting people in traditional music circles. Within those music circles I found myself traveling and meeting people for the first time in the west coast of Donegal in what were called the Gaeltach areas. There the language was and is alive and used as the local's first tongue. It is a joy to listen to. I would stay in the homes of families like the wonderful Brennan family of Clannad and Enya fame and would see how in the context of everyday life they used Irish and English side by side and effortlessly weaved from one to the other. It really is beautiful to listen to. In song it is also rich language to work with as you can hear on albums by so many of our top musical exports.

What does it matter though? What difference will it make in the end? Who cares? Well it matters a great deal I feel to those who speak and use the language in theirs lives and in their art. In the end it may not make a huge difference to peoples everyday lives. The EU will end up with one unofficially used language. English seems to be the prime candidate for that. But that is not the point. I want to relearn my native tongue. I have a young son who I will encourage to learn some Irish as well if only so he can understand some of our traditional songs. I intend to move home in the next few years so my son has the benefit of all aspects of the different cultures his American mother and I his Irish father, bring to him. I would like Irish music and language to be a big part of that education. I will not force it on him but will certainly encourage him to embrace those jewels before he goes out into the great big world and discovers the beauty of so many other cultures.

I would like, as a parent to be able to tell my son that at least the powers that be see our heritage as important. How can we encourage our children to take an interest in our culture and language if our government can so easily throw it away. It is a slap in the face to the thousands who on a daily basis keep the words and music alive. So I believe our political representatives should make a point of making the language an official EU language.

You may not speak Irish or want to. So don't speak it. Don't read it and don't listen it but do not dismiss it.

In the end I don't think I need to worry. The language has survived much worse than this. It has happily lived though occupation where it was even outlawed. It has also lived through the more dangerous threat of apathy. I don't believe it will die because our politicians are proving themselves to be misguided fools. The language is as strong as those who speak it. It is a strong and alive as the Atlantic ocean that crashes on our western coastline and breathes life on the good people who live there. But we at least should make a point of celebrating the survival of Irish throughout the turmoil. We should do it by fighting to make it an official language of the European Union. There is an online petition you can sign. I feel we should all sign it whether we speak the language or not.

You can sign the petition here.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?gaedhilg