Sir, - Mr Tom Higgins is quoted as stating (The Irish Times, September 6th) that his sons, aged six and nine, did not want to do Irish because "it was no use to them".
I wonder how these children are in a position to make such an assessment, given their limited experience of life and learning? I also wonder how, when educating their sons at home as they say they intend to do, Mr Higgins and Ms Theresa Dunne can convey a sense of the importance of language. A language is, after all, not simply a tool. It is an emotional, social and psychic home. The Mexican poet Octavio Paz touched on this when he pointed out that "every language that dies is a vision of humanity that is lost forever". - Yours, etc.,
M. MacSweeney, Dublin Road, Drogheda.