A chara, With Teilifis na Gaeilge here, the role of Raidid na Gaeltachta in providing a valuable broadcasting service should not be forgotten. It is an excellent service to Irish speakers in general, and Gaeltacht communities in particular. It must be a disadvantage, however, for any Irish radio station when it is effectively censored from broadcasting the singing voices of U2, The Cranberries, Van Morrison, Daniel O'Donnell or Boyzone.
Can you imagine if another of our publicly owned and run radio stations refused to play songs with an Irish language content? Would we have the spectacle of tracks from Enya's chart topping albums being banned on 2FM? There would be a public outrage, and rightly so. The voices of those representing the Irish language community would undoubtedly be heard condemning such an injustice.
The fact that Raidio na Gaeltachta does give airplay to songs in several European and other languages, except English, is remarkable. Apparently these languages are not threatening to the Irish language. I'm sure that rock chart toppers Alannis Morrissette and Celine Dion, both proudly from minority language communities in Canada, would be disgusted to stand accused of threatening the existence of a minority language through singing in English on an Irish radio station.
It's high time that Raidio na Gaeltachta was facilitated in altering its practice of not playing English language songs. - Le meas
Meadowbrook Court,
Maynooth, Co. Kildare.