Sir, - Kevin Myers (May 22nd) is surely wrong (again!) when he says: "The Irish people have voted with their tongues. They have chosen not to speak Irish . . ." This is wrong headed mischievousness.
A much more balanced analysis of the situation is that a sizeable proportion of the population would, indeed, speak Irish if only they could! The main reason why the manifest goodwill towards Irish has not, as yet, been translated into phalanxes of active, confident bilinguals is simply because most school leavers attain - at best a passive rather than an active command of the tongue. "They have chosen not to speak Irish is a damnable falsehood. You see, Sir, they were never really given a choice. - Is me agat, go buioch beannachtach,
Garran Arnold,
Gleann na gCaorach,
Co Atha Cliath.