Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

The Irish language – its prestige and the attitude of its speakers
although similar actions could be taken such as a bilingual version of the programmes or a
summary of the articles with a vocabulary list.
4.3. Offi cial language policy and public attitude
Obviously, the recognition of the language as an offi cial language in the Republic and as a
minority language in the North has certain advantages. As a consequence there won’t only be
more job opportunities, but such recognition also makes the language more visible and paves
the way for corresponding legislation. Furthermore, Irish people will be more aware that their
language is valued within the European Union and it should have a positive impact on their
self-esteem, although that has to be seen. However the recognition needs to be followed
by other actions to turn it into a successful action. Recently, the Irish Examiner’s Europe
Correspondent, Ann Cahill reported that due to a lack of qualifi ed translators and complicated
accreditation procedures plans to have Irish spoken in EU institutions have been placed under
threat (Irish Examiner 17/07/06). The article points out that response to job advertisements
for Irish-speakers in the EU was poor, because not enough people have both an Irish translator
diploma which is recognized by the EU and a specialization in another subject such as law,
technology, political science or accounting. It is the University of Westminster in London, which
now is adding Irish to its postgraduate diplomas (recognized by the EU) and Foras na Gaeilge is
offering a study bursary. The Irish Government should take this chance to build up the status of
the language since that will have a great impact on decisions taken by the EU on the language
in the future. It is the duty of Irish Government to train people to become translators and
interpreters and they must react to that immediately. If they’ll miss out this opportunity, they
not only lose many jobs for Irish speakers in the EU, but they also communicate that they are
not committed enough to the language. Because the language already has a diffi cult standing,
the Irish government must make a big effort in order to support the language and above all to
accept support from outside. The Examiner article notes that “Last year, when the Government
won support to upgrade the language, they estimated it would create 30 jobs and cost the EU
taxpayer about € 3.5 million. Now, nobody is sure what the number will be, as the institutions
are cutting back on the amount of work they will undertake in Irish because of the scarcity of
people” (Irish Examiner 17/07/06). Obviously in this particular incidence the Irish Government
failed to take decisions at the right time which demonstrates a lack of commitment.
Another potential undermining of the status of the Irish language arises from recent
discussions among the main political parties about the abolition of compulsory Irish at school.
In 2005 Enda Kenny, leader of Ireland’s main opposition party, Fine Gael, called for the language
to be made an optional subject in the last two years of secondary school. This call drew
widespread criticism from many quarters although some have supported his call. Mr. Kenny,
despite being a fl uent speaker himself, stated that he believed that compulsory Irish has done
the language more harm than good (RTE Radio). More than three quarters of the respondents
of my questionnaire disapproved of a change in status of Irish as a school subject. The new
concerning offi cial language policy development is more positive however. The Offi cial Language
Act 2003 focuses on the better availability and the higher standard of public services through
Irish. Employees have the option of fi lling in forms in which they estimate the use of Irish in
their departments, can comment on the department’s policy, as well as avail of the option
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