HEART BEAT Maurice Neligan: Voltaire in writing to Catherine the Great of Russia said: "I am not like a lady of the court of Versailles who said 'what a dreadful pity that the bother at the Tower of Babel should have got language all mixed up; but for that, everyone would always have spoken French'."
Voltaire knew little, indeed I suspect nothing at all, of the linguistic problems of our little island, which show disquieting signs of haunting us all once again.
I suppose at this juncture I should make the routine remark that I have nothing against the Irish language and that some of my best friends speak it. These formulaic words have always struck me as redolent of bigoted views to follow. I do not think this is true in my case.
The leader of the Opposition (a fluent Irish speaker) suggested that we should look again at compulsion as a means of restoring the use of the language. The Taoiseach (by his own admission, a less-than-fluent speaker) says this suggestion cannot be entertained.
Before one can draw breath, the lobbies are out in force. The Fine Gael headquarters are picketed and the cries of a southerly displaced "no surrender" fill the air. I was quite taken with a subsequent letter in The Irish Times with five signatories and written in Irish.
I wish I could have read it as I am sure it said something very important. My point is that like most people in the State, having passed through the crucible of compulsory Irish and passed all the necessary exams, I was unable to read or easily understand the content of the letter.
The sad but inescapable fact is that the overwhelming majority of us are not fluent in the use of the Irish language despite the vast amounts of time and money thus far spent on its revival.
Many are more at home with French or German. To me there is a simple message. Compulsion seldom works and often leaves a legacy of bitterness and anger. We must honestly admit that the methods applied up to the present time have not led to the revival of the language.
Mr Kenny suggests that we should think again and there is nothing reprehensible in that. On the other hand, there is clearly something reprehensible in the posturing and pretence that we have endured in the name of this cause since the foundation of the State.
There is nothing visible or audible to mark the expenditure of so much time and treasure and clearly the decline of the language has not been halted. The latest farce of employing hundreds to translate EU and departmental documents into Irish constitutes another cynical exercise. By the way, how are you all doing down there in Dingle, I suppose most of you know where you are?
For historical reasons there was a hiatus in the development of the Irish language. This left us bereft of a vocabulary for the increasingly technical ages to come. This poses a major, although possibly not an insurmountable, problem. We must acknowledge that it is a problem and deserves deep study.
Sometime ago my hospital suddenly became bilingual with signs in Irish and English for all departments. In most cases the Irish was simply a translation of the English equivalent in use for many years. One memorable rendering remains lodged in my memory.
The physiotherapy department became An Roinn Fisiteiripe. Nobody laughed, nobody even said a word. I suppose it is much the same when we see a vehicle proceeding on the road displaying a sign "Tacsai" on the roof. We are a polite people.
In my medical student days, I and all my fellow students in UCD and I assume in the other universities underwent an examination in oral Irish. This had to be passed before obtaining your degree.
Words fail me thinking of this pantomime. I know of nobody deprived of a degree because of it. Looking back, however, at that time of genuine poverty and deprivation in Ireland, I am still angered by the fact that people were paid good salaries to administer and oversee what even they must have known was nonsense.
It could, however, be malignant rather than benign nonsense. It was used, as we all know, as a means of job discrimination even in medicine. A great friend of mine and most talented surgeon, who died last week, was told on one occasion that his Irish was not adequate for a post in the west of Ireland.
Tom was a consultant surgeon in Leeds with an international reputation as surgeon and teacher. Ireland's loss was England's gain. There are many more such examples in every sphere of Irish life.
We have perpetuated an oligarchy with a vested interest in the status quo. Despite being surrounded on all sides by the evidence of the failure of compulsion, they cling to it as a drowning man to a straw.
We have created a monster that has served us ill. It has damaged what it set out to preserve and enhance. Let us now calmly and without fear or prejudice admit past failure and plan for future success.
Mr Kenny has raised the question and it is most worthy of debate.
In my opinion, the ultimately distilled product of such debate is worthy of referendum by the people as a whole. It is time for us to have our say.
• Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon.