Sir, The argument that Teilifis na Gaeilge is an extravagant personal gesture", as articulated by Frank Fennell (January 23rd), is by now thoroughly discredited. We have finally got to the point in this country where the political will has been found, across the full spectrum of parties in Dail Eireann, to provide access to the most powerful and pervasive contemporary medium of communication to those who use Irish as their everyday language. The right of access for lesser used languages has already been recognised in most other parts of Europe, where a fully developed sense of national self respect and confidence includes practical support for local languages alongside openness to super national ones. This vibrant appreciation of linguistic pluralism is underpinned by the various support mechanisms put in place by the European Commission.
In Ireland, public opinion surveys show that while the loss of Irish has stabilised in recent decades, affection for it has increased. A large number of people now place considerable value on the symbolic role of Irish in the life of the country. Surveys show that about two thirds of the population believe that, without Irish, Ireland would lose its distinctive identity as a separate culture. Furthermore, these polls document a substantial shift in attitude over the last two decades in favour of more government support for Irish, through a range of interventions that includes television (75 per cent of respondents in a 1993 survey), even if this entails increased public expenditure. These attitude shifts, probably related to changing feelings of national identity in the context of the increasing globalisation of Irish culture, surely say something significant about how firmly linguistic democratic values have taken root here to deprive the Irish speaking community of the means of public debate and entertainment available to the majority language users is, in effect, to deny its very existence, since it is constituted as a community through the Irish Language. The public meaning system of its culture is carried by the language.
Mr Fennell's position is certainly not representative of the mainstream view in the country when he argues that Irish is "over represented" currently on RTE One and Network Two, a "waste of scarce resources". To long for the total removal of Irish from these two channels simply because ones does not oneself enjoy Irish is not only an outmoded position, it is also deeply intolerant. From being a "penalty" imposed on RTE, the Minister's invitation to the national broadcaster to get involved in programme production for Teilifis na Gaeilge is a most exciting development, as it is also for the independent sector. RTE will respond with all the enthusiasm, flair and creativity in its possession and will work with others to create a profoundly enhanced Irish language audiovisual space, of which all of us who believe in language rights will be immensely proud. Yours, etc., Chairperson, RTE Authority, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.