Gráinne Mhic Géidigh Demands Fine Gael Rethink on Gaeilge Policy
Published: 21 June, 2006
Sinn Féin Údarás Member Gráinne Mhic Géidigh has demanded an urgent public response to the proposal by Enda Kenny's for the abolition of Gaeilge as a compulsory subject in our secondary level education system.
Gráinne Mhic Géidigh was speaking in response to the Fine Gael policy, which says that Gaeilge should not be a compulsory subject. She says such an eventuality would be disastrous to our native language and if it is allowed to happen will have a devastating effect on the language, economy and our very identity and could ultimately herald the end of the Gaeltacht.
Gráinne Mhic Géidigh said:
"Economically the Gaeltacht will suffer if this policy is passed. Fine Gael could possibly be part of the government after the next general election. These people would be the very same people hell-bent on ruining an industry, which has been in existence for over a hundred years. This will have a detrimental effect on the whole country. Our language is not just part of our culture, our language is the soil out of which our culture stems and destruction of that soil will mean the loss of our very essence.
"Instead of abolishing Gaeilge as a compulsory subject, political parties should be doing their utmost to preserve and promote the language. There is no doubt that change is needed in the education system. We need to enhance Gaeilge as a subject and also incorporate new and fresh ideas to be applied to a tired syllabus, but if we make it a choice subject it will signal the death knell of the language.
"There are a myriad of reasons why this should not be allowed to happen but looking at this from an economical point of view, especially by those of us who live in the Gaeltacht, we just cannot let this happen. What will happen to the mná tí who keep these students, the teachers who work with the Irish colleges, the local shops, the B&Bs and hotels who benefit from visiting parents?
Studies have shown that young people who come to the Gaeltacht as children to learn Irish return time after time and furthermore when they become parents they in turn send their own children to the same place. As a bean tí, I have kept students over the years I personally know the importance of this industry and know in many cases it is often the only source of income for the mná tí.
"I would formally like to invite Enda Kenny to visit any of the Gaeltacht areas and see the vibrancy and industry that Gaeilge students bring at this time of the year. Glór na nGael are in total agreement with Sinn Féin on this issue and have an online petition to protest against such a policy being implemented. We also fully supported the Stadas campaign which successfully gained a place for Gaeilge in the EU as a working language. We must put politics behind us and get everybody in the country to speak out against this outrage. I ask the mná tí to lobby their public representatives to make sure this ludicrous suggestion of Enda Kenny's never takes hold because it will surely signal the demise of our Gaeltacht industry."
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