Easier to shout than to listen

Culture minister Edwin Poots attended his first Irish-language event at the weekend. He said two thing which were true: Irish should threaten no one and that Sinn Féin were politicising the language. The first statement is one which the Minister should pin on his notice board to remind him of his responsibilities.

The second statement was a gift from Sinn Féin, after they announced that they were forming a new Irish-language society named after a dead IRA member, Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh. That Sinn Féin should choose to name an Irish-language group after a dead IRA man is no surprise – even less surprising than Poots becoming annoyed at them for it. Political parties, after all, politicise issues.

Needless to say, many Irish speakers and groups who are so quick to comment on Poots, his politics and view of the language are not so quick to pass comment on Sinn Féin and their language politics and its implications for the promotion of Irish amongst every class and creed.

The fact is – muted though they may often be for various reasons – that there are numerous Irish speakers who are independently minded and who continue to plough their own furrows with diligence and respect. Their views are not always reflected in the rough propaganda battle which accompanies the language slanging match.

One group which did pass comment on the issue of politicisation was the ULTACH Trust, an organisation that promotes Irish on a cross-community level and some of whose members could write a book about being on the sharp end of the cultural struggle. One Trust employee, Gordon McCoy, told the Irish News: “Nowadays we have more a cultural conflict, rather than a military one. But we are seeing more of an interest in Irish amongst Protestants. There is now more of a move into cross-community image of language, trying to take it away from politics. But the constant rows in the halls of Stormont don’t help, it’s keeping the politics in the language and to what extent that trickles down to the community could be detrimental.”

That is a very honest comment on what is happening and raises another matter. The writer and translator, Breandán Ó Doibhlin, has argued that the promotion of Irish is a “moral” undertaking. What happens, however, when people for and agin Irish are not moral in their approach and think little of misrepresenting and distorting language issues for political purposes?

Of course, one of the biggest ironies is that the republican movement and its Gaelic choir are so self-righteous on the issue of Irish: they were wrong about the IRA’s campaign; they were wrong about the Good Friday Agreement; they were wrong about policing; they were wrong about partition; they were wrong about SF’s electoral prospects in the Republic but they think they are right about Irish.

Perhaps that is why they have become so shrill on the issue: it is easier to shout than to listen – or learn.