A Chara, - I would like to thank Cathal Goan for his intelligent and informative letter (July 31st) in response to your possibly rash comments on Teilifis na Gaeilge in an otherwise laudable Editorial of July 24th on digital broadcasting in Ireland. Living in the United States, I am forced to watch TnaG on converted tapes sent to me through the post, but the standard of television I receive is very high - even when compared with the programming of RTE and other public stations. Teilifis na Gaeilge has done an amazing job of providing over four hours of home-produced material every day on meagre resources - a tribute to dedicated staff, content-led programming, and a refreshing absence of personality cults. It remains a shame that so few people watch TnaG's material regularly, but this was always to be expected.
Irish remains a minority language, struggling to survive in a post-colonial Ireland still deeply marked by an antipathy towards Gaelic culture. The community of truly fluent Irish speakers is very small, although there are many who speak Irish as a semi-fluent second language. To many of this latter group, TnaG's programming remains difficult to understand, and will remain so for some considerable time, until the existence of Irish as a language of entertainment and information becomes normal to them.
Couple this with the understandable reluctance of Gaeilgeoiri in families and households where the principal language is English to change the channel to a Gaelic station, and low viewing figures are to be expected. The ingrained hostility to Gaelic culture will not change overnight. But Teilifis na Gaeilge, with the patience and understanding of Ireland's English speakers, can play a major part in achieving genuine plurality in Ireland. Witness the years it took for Raidio na Gaeltachta to be accepted, even in the West, and give Teilifis na Gaeilge its due: on a shoestring budget it has given the Gaelic community a voice denied it by almost every other broadcaster since the foundation of the State.
I write out of genuine concern for what I have seen in Ireland over the past few years - a creeping Anglo-Americanisation of the country, coupled with a deepening disdain for the indigenous. TnaG stands out like a beacon against all this. Long may it continue to broadcast. - Is mise, Brian O Broin,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA.