Madam, - The problem with the Irish language is not that it is difficult to teach, or the quaintly paranoid belief that people don't like it. The problem is that it is almost totally irrelevant to most people, and they just don't care.
Madam, - The problem with the Irish language is not that it is difficult to teach, or the quaintly paranoid belief that people don't like it. The problem is that it is almost totally irrelevant to most people, and they just don't care.
I propose that the main function of a language is to act as a communication tool. What hope can there be, therefore, for a language whose main function has been superseded by acting as a vehicle for national heritage and an outmoded sense of patriotism that has no place in modern Ireland?
I think of myself as a fully Irish person with an appreciation of my history and culture without the need to speak Irish, or to insist that others do so.
What can we say about those who cannot see themselves as fully Irish without attaching themselves emotionally to a dead language?
The Irish language is a wonderful thing. We shouldn't screw it into the ground by pretending it's something it isn't. -Yours, etc.,
BARRY PURCELL, O'Connell Street, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.