British-Irish Council Summit Meeting: Indigenous, Minority and Lesser- Used Languages
Written by Eamon Ó Cuív Friday, 13 November 2009
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British-Irish Council Summit Meeting, Jersey, 13 November 2009
Indigenous, Minority and Lesser- Used Languages
Speaking notes for Éamon Ó Cuív TD, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
Introduction
I dtús báire, is cúis áthais dom mar Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta na hÉireann a bheith i nGeirseí inniu ag an gCruinniú Mullaigh seo de Chomhairle na Breataine – na hÉireann. Tá áthas orm chomh maith go bhfuil deis agam casadh arís le mo chomhghleacaithe ó na tíortha eile. Tá sé beagnach díreach trí bliana anois ó a chuireas fáilte romhaibh go Gaillimh don Chruinniú Aireachta a reáchtáladh sna Forbacha i 2006.
Local Language Initiatives and Resource Centres
In considering language development issues generally, I think there would be general agreement that there is a fundamental difference between areas with a high density of indigenous language speakers and areas that are outside the traditional heartlands. This has long been recognised in Ireland with the designation in the 1920s of the Gaeltachtaí as areas of special importance in terms of the preservation and development of the Irish language. As will be clear from my comments already, a distinction is usually made between the Gaeltacht and the rest of Ireland when considering Irish language schemes and initiatives. This is certainly the case in the case of local language initiatives and resource centres.
With respect to urban areas, my Department has in recent years provided funding to facilitate the establishment of a number of Irish language social and cultural centers in the main urban areas. The centres act as a focal point for Irish speaking communities in these areas. A number of such centres are already in place, for example in Dublin, Limerick and Nenagh, County Tipperary in Ireland. The continued development of such centres is expected to be one of the key components of the Government’s 20 Year Strategy for the Irish language which is currently under consideration to which An Taoiseach referred earlier.
Centres such as these have the potential to nuture new language communities in urban settings and give our languages a new position as living community languages in our cities. In urban areas, people form communities based on common interests, as much as on a neighbourhood basis. There are many examples of migrant languages that survive and prosper in cities throughout the world in such network communities.
The first and most effective place to learn a language is within the family home. It is of fundamental importance for the survival and development of a language that it be the main medium of communication in as many homes as possible. The issue of a language’s position within the family is very closely linked with that of intergenerational transmission of the language. Indeed, this was the theme of the practitioner’s conference which took place in Na Forbacha in Galway in 2006. The type of social and cultural centres I am talking about can have an important home in supporting the family in this world, by providing advice and resources, as well as housing childcare facilities.
There is clearly a need to support parents who wish to or are at least considering raising their children through the medium of a minority or indigenous language, whether these parents are native speakers or not. There is a particular need for such support when only one parent is a native or fluent speaker of the language. There is also a need to encourage interaction through the minority language between the wider family, for example between grandparents and grandchildren. There is no doubt that there are greater pressures that ever before on families in terms of language transmission, particularly due to the overwhelming power of television and other media.
As you can see from the paper, Ireland has a number of initiatives in place in the area of family support. These include an Ionad Tacaíochta Teaghlaigh (Family Support Centre), a centre situated in the heart of the Connemara Gaeltacht in county Galway which was officially opened by the Taoiseach in September of this year. A further initiative from Ireland referred to in the paper is Scéim na gCúntóirí Baile (Home Visitation Scheme), which involves professionally-trained Irish Language Assistants make home visits to families in the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht in county Kerry.
Ministerial Decision
The Council is being asked to:
- Note and acknowledge the benefits in sharing knowledge, ideas and best practice and the diversity in approaches to community language planning;
- Encourage the usage of the language in the community and supporting that through projects that reflect the linguistic nature of the various communities; and
- Ask the Working Group to explore areas of possible cooperation with the NPLD and other organisations to learn from experiences elsewhere; and
- Endorse new work on themes such as legislation, immersion education and strategic planning in the ongoing work programme of the Group.
On behalf of Ireland, I very much endorse each of these recommendations and indeed the work that has been carried out by the British Irish Council in this whole area in recent years. I look forward to this work being built upon in the years to come.
Focal scoir
There is no doubt as to the importance of the work that is being carried out in collaboration by the different Administrations with regard to the promotion and development of indigenous and minority languages across Britain and Ireland.
As everyone is aware, we are currently operating in an environment where funding is far more scarce than it was a short number of years ago. In this context, there is a challenge for us in ensuring that funding continues to be made available for language planning and development and that whatever funding is provided is targeted carefully and put to optimum use. From a more general perspective, it is vitally important that language preservation and development not be seen as a luxury or something that can be expendable in difficult economic circumstances. Unlike other things in life, a language is not something that can be left aside or put on the long finger, safe in the knowledge that it will be possible to return to it at some point in the future when greater resources are available. Our languages are particularly vulnerable plants that needs careful and constant nurturing.
Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh ar fad inniu. Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil obair thábhachtach ar súil againn ó thaobh mhion-theangacha na n-oileán seo a neartú agus a chur chun cinn. Guím gach rath ar an obair sin sna míonna agus sna blianta atá amach romhainn.
