Sir, Though I am keen to see Gaelic become a commonly spoken language, I am not enthusiastic about the building of an exclusively Gaelic television station. Rather than create a favourable climate for Gaelic revival, it will probably have the opposite effect as it will almost certainly be cost ineffective and so give the tepid Gaelic supporter or the actively anti Gaelic person an opportunity of pointing to further waste of money as he or she sees it.
Over the decades, since Gaelic became the first official and, let us face it, the factual second language, many of the efforts to revive it were doomed to failure from the word "go" or if you prefer it, "imigi" because they were conceived by people who seemed to have known nothing about either educational methods or public relations. Like millions of other children from the 1920s onwards, I was told by teachers, public representatives and other authority figures that I should learn Gaelic because it was the patriotic, right thing to do.
I cannot remember hearing any of these alickadoos ever using Gaelic when speaking socially, either to us or between themselves. Gaelic was taught as a school subject, usually from textbooks with an exclusively rural, pre 20th century slant. Little emphasis was placed on acquiring conversational skills, and our occasional immature but well meant efforts to use Gaelic as a modern communication tool resulted in either harsh criticism or physical violence because we had perpetrated some grammatical bloomer. Positive help was rare indeed.
Languages are living, changing entities and must be taught as such. Equally, any subject must either interest the student or give promise of financial gain. Competitors in school quizzes can usually answer questions about sporting personalities or popular music easily while struggling to recollect the answer to some "school" subject.
Many years ago I suggested that a very practical way of helping to make Gaelic a not, the only spoken language would be to give a preferential postage rate, however small, on letters destined for delivery within the State addressed in Gaelic and that the weekly crosswords in the Sunday newspapers should be in Gaelic with substantial prizes. I knew that a scream would be raised in some quarters that the first suggestion would infringe the rights of non Gaelic speakers. All I can say in answer to this is that after some 70 years of compulsory Gaelic any individual brought up in this State who could not address a letter in Gaelic must be remarkably thick or the whole approach to reviving the language is remarkably inept. Most people will do anything within the law to save or make money. Unionists appealing for votes with slogans in Gaelic or claiming that all Northern Ireland cows are part of an Irish cow community from the health point of view confirm this opinion.
Positive example and potential benefit are the most efficient ways of making anyone do anything whether it is learning a subject in school or adhering to moral principles in the hope of achieving a Heavenly reward. Yours, etc., Proby Square, Blackrock, Co Dublin.