A 'movement' for a 'new republic'

[Clanrickard]

First off, Irish is not the official language, it's an official language, albeit one of two. And it is most certainly not the lingua franca.

I suspect that a 70-year-old with little or no Irish trying to navigate the already ridiculously complicated form to apply for their GP-only Medical Card might not feel all that sanguine about 'getting used to it'. Or an 80-year-old looking for a grant to adapt their bathroom. They might well feel excluded in their own country by a bunch of Gaelgoir elitists.

If people wish to conduct their business with the state through Irish, that is their perfect right.

If they want to do so through English, that is also their perfect right. And any attempt to forcibly remove that right would be unjust and likely unenforceable.

It's perfectly enforceable. You can answer in English but the form will be in Irish. That's it.

[Statsman]

It's perfectly enforceable. You can answer in English but the form will be in Irish. That's it.

So you expect people to answer questions they can't understand?

[Gatsbygirl]

First off, Irish is not the official language, it's an official language, albeit one of two. And it is most certainly not the lingua franca.

I suspect that a 70-year-old with little or no Irish trying to navigate the already ridiculously complicated form to apply for their GP-only Medical Card might not feel all that sanguine about 'getting used to it'. Or an 80-year-old looking for a grant to adapt their bathroom. They might well feel excluded in their own country by a bunch of Gaelgoir elitists.

If people wish to conduct their business with the state through Irish, that is their perfect right.

If they want to do so through English, that is also their perfect right. And any attempt to forcibly remove that right would be unjust and likely unenforceable.

I must say it always amuses me when I am trying to navigate some piece of labyrinthine State bureaucracy on the phone, to hear the option "If you wish to conduct this in Irish, please press 2"

I feel like replying "So, in the middle of this Kafka-esque bureaucratic nightmare which will no doubt take me all morning before I can reach a human capable of understanding my problem, you are offering a further nightmarish complication inviting me down yet another rabbit hole where I can attempt to communicate in a language where my level of fluency will be perforce inferior to my fluency in English. Excuse me while I shoot myself. I hope the noise does not disturb you in whatever "working from home" sinecure you lurk"

[Irish History]

It's perfectly enforceable. You can answer in English but the form will be in Irish. That's it.

.

[Irish History]

First off, Irish is not the official language, it's an official language, albeit one of two. And it is most certainly not the lingua franca.

I suspect that a 70-year-old with little or no Irish trying to navigate the already ridiculously complicated form to apply for their GP-only Medical Card might not feel all that sanguine about 'getting used to it'. Or an 80-year-old looking for a grant to adapt their bathroom. They might well feel excluded in their own country by a bunch of Gaelgoir elitists.

If people wish to conduct their business with the state through Irish, that is their perfect right.

If they want to do so through English, that is also their perfect right. And any attempt to forcibly remove that right would be unjust and likely unenforceable.

Wrong - or not quite.

Native Irish according to the Constitution is the First official language and foreign English the second, When it comes to the law of the land, it is interpreted first in native Irish and takes precedence over foreign English.

Native Irish and foreign English may be official languages in law, but native Irish is supreme in all matters.
.

[Clanrickard]

So you expect people to answer questions they can't understand?

The can find people to help or google translate.

[Clanrickard]

Wrong - or not quite.

Native Irish according to the Constitution is the First official language and foreign English the second, When it comes to the law of the land, it is interpreted first in native Irish and takes precedence over foreign English.

Native Irish and foreign English may be official languages in law, but native Irish is supreme in all matters.
.

English is not a foreign language.

[Irish History]

English is not a foreign language.

Not if you are English and living in England - but in every other country in the world, in actual fact and in reality, English is a foreign language.
.

[knownunknown]

I’m reminded of a clip I saw from Feynman along time ago.

[Clanrickard]

Not if you are English and living in England - but in every other country in the world, in actual fact and in reality, English is a foreign language.
.

It has been spoken here for hundreds of years. It is native to Ireland at this stage.

[midlander12]

So you expect people to answer questions they can't understand?

Ni thuigim.

[Irish History]

It has been spoken here for hundreds of years. It is native to Ireland at this stage.

Don't be stupid.

Foreign English is not native to Ireland - that is what makes it a foreign language.

The invader and occupier forced it on us and you west-brit lickspittles have spoken it ever since - that doesn't make foreign English native to Ireland or to us native Irish people.

The indisputable fact and the reality is that Irish is the native language of the Irish people - we still speak it in the Gaeltacht.

English is a foreign language to us native Irish and to our country Ireland.
.

[Lumpy Talbot]

So you expect people to answer questions they can't understand?

Outrageous. That very thing happens every five years in a General Election nationwide and no-one bats an eyelid.

[Statsman]

Outrageous. That very thing happens every five years in a General Election nationwide and no-one bats an eyelid.

That's all well and good, but a GE is nowhere near as important as a medical card.

[Lumpy Talbot]

Might have been an issue some years back but for those of us with little or no Irish we are well capable of translating questions and suitable answers via online translation tools where there might be a problem.

I've come 'round much more to Irish since the decline of the awful bastards treating it as an insider's quiz game in the 1980s and with the recent renaissance fostered by younger and more open minded people on the music and creative scene.

RTE and the civil service, old school teachers and emotionally damaging TV output who were in charge of the Irish language when I was a mere potentiality of the Talbot I am today did everything they humanly could to make the Irish language the preserve of some pretty awful people who insisted on making an obstacle course of it when Lumpy was knee-high to a Radharc along with trying to make English a language of the oppressed through west coast manic depressive TV and radio output at times.

I've considered taking a course in recent years in Irish and I know if started reading and listening to it the dormant knowledge would wake up. I'm glad there is a current fashion for it among the creatives in Ireland and that isn't a bad thing. As long as it can be seized from the Radharc Gang I'd be happy enough to see it as a challenge.

[Lumpy Talbot]

That's all well and good, but a GE is nowhere near as important as a medical card.

There's a vicious rumour abroad that the two things may be related.

[Gatsbygirl]

Might have been an issue some years back but for those of us with little or no Irish we are well capable of translating questions and suitable answers via online translation tools where there might be a problem.

I've come 'round much more to Irish since the decline of the awful bastards treating it as an insider's quiz game in the 1980s and with the recent renaissance fostered by younger and more open minded people on the music and creative scene.

RTE and the civil service, old school teachers and emotionally damaging TV output who were in charge of the Irish language when I was a mere potentiality of the Talbot I am today did everything they humanly could to make the Irish language the preserve of some pretty awful people who insisted on making an obstacle course of it when Lumpy was knee-high to a Radharc along with trying to make English a language of the oppressed through west coast manic depressive TV and radio output at times.

I've considered taking a course in recent years in Irish and I know if started reading and listening to it the dormant knowledge would wake up. I'm glad there is a current fashion for it among the creatives in Ireland and that isn't a bad thing. As long as it can be seized from the Radharc Gang I'd be happy enough to see it as a challenge.

Radharc did some excellent programmes

We must be careful not to stereotype, although admittedly some of the old Irish language zealots occasionally veered into cartoon territory

[Socthesecond]

Radharc did some excellent programmes

We must be careful not to stereotype, although admittedly some of the old Irish language zealots occasionally veered into cartoon territory

Agreed this is one my favourites

Take a look at this video, 'radarch accents in the caribbean' https://share.google/he5V4INIbP3nnsAeE

[Socthesecond]

Radharc did some excellent programmes

We must be careful not to stereotype, although admittedly some of the old Irish language zealots occasionally veered into cartoon territory

Agreed this is one my favourites

Take a look at this video, 'radarch accents in the caribbean' https://share.google/he5V4INIbP3nnsAeE