A chara, - I applaud the farsighted decision of the Inuit people of northern Canada to designate Inuit as the working language of their new parliament, thus assuring its future (The Irish Times, May 29th).
Alas that the founders of this State weren't so far-sighted in the 1920s as to lead by such example, rather than obliging schoolchildren to bear the burden of its Irish language policy.
Wouldn't such an innovation (making Irish the working language of the Oireachtas, with translation facilities into English for a transitional period) now constitute a worthy millennium project, defining our national identity in terms of this most Irish component of our shared heritage, transcending colour and creed? (Remember that many parliaments have as their working language one which is not the home language of the majority.)
I have every confidence in the ability of the practitioners of the "art of the possible" to rise to the challenge. - Is mise,
Daithi Mac Carthaigh, Law Library, Four Courts, Dublin 7.