Ring’s claims disingenuous and preposterous
Written by Eamon Ó Cuív Thursday, 26 November 2009
Minister Ó Cuív has said that allegations made by Deputy Ring about “Government raiding fund for struggling farmers to pay for Irish language bureaucracy” are total nonsense.
“This is absolute rubbish and worse, it is deliberately disingenuous,” said Minister Ó Cuív.
“Money spent on the first constitutional language of the State is not taken at the expense of the Rural Social Scheme, as Deputy Ring is well aware. The Deputy is also aware that as the Minister who brought in the Rural Social Scheme, I am committed to maintaining it and to keeping the numbers of participants at the current level. I welcome Deputy Ring’s passionate support for this initiative of mine.”
“Where spending on the Irish language is concerned, some extra expenditure has arisen with regard to training people so that we can fulfil our obligations to the European Union in relation to the status of the Irish language as an official working language of the European Union.
“Fine Gael was well and truly on the bandwagon for full status for Irish in the European Union. Fine Gael fully supported the all-party motion in the Dáil. When I raised issues about the need to ensure that we had enough competent staff to undertake the translation and other work, I was rubbished. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny berating the Government in January 2004 for not seeking full recognition for Irish told the Dáil that ‘It would be hard to invent a better way of discriminating against genuinely bi-lingual Irish people in the European job market.’
“I particularly welcome the clear statements both last week and this week by Dinny McGinley TD, Fine Gael Deputy and Spokesman on the Irish language, in support of the status for the Irish language both at home and abroad, and for the need to produce basic documentation in Irish. His response is measured and responsible.
“I call on Fine Gael to clarify their official party policy on this issue; are they in favour of the Official Languages Act, as Deputy McGinley clearly is, or not? Are they still in favour of Irish being an official, working language of the European Union, or has Deputy Enda Kenny changed his position on that?”
ENDS
