OPINION:To justify its budget, Foras na Gaeilge must play a more assertive role
IN THESE straitened economic times, when “value for money” is the constant refrain, it is appropriate to look at how funds are spent spend money on the promotion of the Irish language.
While those inherently hostile to the language will use the economic difficulties for another demand that the language be officially marginalised, all popular surveys show a clear majority of the population value the language and want it protected, advanced and preserved in some way.
And the Government has responded to that reality by endorsing the 20-year strategy for the language. We now have a programme for Irish, but how should we bring it forward and what use should be made of State money in this context? These questions are important now because in December the Government will have to appoint a new board for Foras na Gaeilge, the primary State instrument for language policy implementation.
Will it be business as usual, or will the Government take an approach that sets measurable targets and expects results? Foras na Gaeilge is complicated by the fact that it is a North-South implementation body under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. It replaced the previous State board, Bord na Gaeilge, but as a North-South body it is very much constrained by political sensitivities that are not entirely in the Government’s control.
Sinn Féin, of course, was anxious during the agreement negotiations to include Irish policy in the list of such bodies, because it would inevitably enhance the status of Irish in the North and create a context for pushing the language there.
The South, however, is different. Officially, the language has primary status, but in fact officialdom treats it largely with indifference. A small amount of money suffices to take it off the agenda.
This small amount, €18 million from two governments this year, has itself been reduced by 10 per cent and further cuts of the same size could be in prospect in the next two budgets. It is vital, therefore, to make sure that this money is used most effectively.
All serious language revivalists (including those who just wish to see the language preserved as a spoken medium) accept there are three main focuses of a coherent language policy.
The first is to maintain the economic, social and linguistic vitality of the existing Gaeltachtaí, where Irish remains – in varying degrees of strength – as the spoken vernacular of family and community life.
The second is recognising and ensuring legitimate rights of Irish speakers throughout the State (and indeed throughout the island), in terms of public business and cultural servicing in radio and television.
And the third is ensuring a public presence of the language, and encouraging community initiatives and especially educational developments such as Gaelscoileanna.
The endorsement of the 20-year strategy provides the basis for all of these.
Of course, Údarás na Gaeltachta is the key player as regards Gaeltacht policy, and Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs Dinny McGinley was very much on the ball when he insisted that the Údarás should keep the industrial development functions that Colm McCarthy’s “Bord Snip Nua” wanted to take from it.
The Coimisinéar Teangan, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, is working strongly and effectively as regards public rights, but it is the third pillar that needs strengthening.
Read the minutes of Foras na Gaeilge that are published online, and it becomes apparent that it is a very incestuous set-up. When one set of grant applications is up for discussion, two or three members of the board absent themselves to avoid a conflict of interest. When the next comes up the previous absentees return while another two or three go out.
It’s like Lanigan’s Ball, with the music playing to an essentially empty hall. To justify the money spent on it, Foras na Gaeilge needs to play a more assertive role as part of the strategy.
Minister for the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan, of course, is under severe constraints: he has to take account of the North-South dimension, with only half of the board for his nomination, and he has to take account of Labour wishes as well as those of his own party.
But it is crucial that the new board is not just a collection of county councillors and party connectees. It needs activism, not for the sake of confrontation but to advance the Government’s declared agenda in the strategy, which theoretically at least enjoys the support of all Dáil parties.
The Minister knows the leader of the Labour Party, Tánaiste Éamon Gilmore, (as well as the Taoiseach Enda Kenny himself), is favourably disposed to a coherent language policy.
This should give him courage to take command of the board, and reshape it as an active instrument for the policy he wants to develop and implement.
For while Deenihan is not a fluent speaker of Irish, he is committed to the language.
The appointment of a new board is therefore a chance to really develop policy in this area and ensure the “value for money” that the economists demand of us.