Sir, - When walking on those rare occasions in Shop Street, Galway, with my mother in the early 60s, my memory is of being told that when I used my first language - "Labhair go h-iseal" - literal translation "speak lowly". I was made to feel it was almost a language of shame. Thirty years on the wheel has come full circle, as has the ongoing debate about Teilifis na Gaeilge. An eminent journalist of The Irish Times champions the cause of the mother tongue. It is now fashionable to speak Irish even among the luke warm politicians and the nouveau riche of the official Ireland, whose offspring, in their quest for personal advancement, seek favourable Curriculae Vitae.
This renewed interest in the cupla focal is evidenced by our flourishing Colaisti Gaeilge. There has never been a better time to found Teilifis na Gaeilge; that it will be located in the heart of the Connemara Gaeltacht, that it will provide much needed local employment in the construction phase, that it will create many permanent jobs and that it will present an elevation of Gaeltacht self esteem nationwide. These are all factors that make it imperative that we save my language.
Finally, may I address the comment of Ms Ann Masterson, Rathgar, Dublin 6 (June 10th). As someone who "was born and reared in the Connemara Gaeltacht, whose first language is Irish and who contributes handsomely to state coffers by dent of the employment I generate", I resent being termed as part of a privileged and pampered minority and find it ironic that this description should emanate from a milieu surrounded by the vestiges of privileges. Yes, Ms Masterson, I am privileged, but only because I'm one of a minority, who by birthright was given a descriptive and lyrical jewel that is my language. - Yours, etc.,
Clynagh, Carraroe, Co Galway.