A chara, I was much saddened by the use made by Gearoid O Bradaigh (IT La Bealtaine) of a point from my recent article, to make an ill informed attack on the gaelscoil movement, which is one of the healthiest and most beneficial community based activities in Ireland today, as well as being one of the most joyful.
My own children and those of many of my friends benefited immensely from a first class education by dedicated teachers in Scoil Lorcun, Colaiste Iosagain Colaiste an Phiarsaigh and Colaiste Eoin and went out into life with an inherent knowledge of who they are, where they come from, and will certainly never find themselves as tourists in their own country. Both of my daughters, and many of their school friends, have since become accomplished multi linguals and my sons have fond memories of the Saturday football with Liam Mac an lomaire, who gave them so freely of his own time and of his infectious enthusiasm.
The achievement of the gaelscoileanna is all the more remarkable since they have been forced to work within a bureaucratically imposed system and curriculum cloned from those peculiarly English educational innovations which the English themselves now admit have failed their own children so lamentably. For parents, the founding of a gaelscoil involves an act of faith, hope and love, and the sacrifice of a great deal of time and money, but it brings its own reward.
My concern is that the Gaelic League should recover its political will, its sense of mission and, above all, its sense of responsibility for the integrity of the Irish language itself, by recruiting the help of academics, linguists, writers, publishers, broadcasters and any bureaucrats they can find who are not daily engaged in its deliberate marginalising. They should also get back to putting some gentle pressure on politicians. This is something which gaelscoileanna cannot and should not be expected to do, and which the league could do more effectively on their behalf if they took the courage to fund themselves by public subscription in place of the present stifling State subvention.
And on the subject of deceit, Gearoid O Bradaigh is surely deceiving himself if he truly believes that what we teach children is far more important than the medium through which we teach it. No imperial power has ever believed that. Is mise, agus ri, Carraig Mhaighin, Baile Atha Cliath 18.