‘Language act mistake’

FINE GAEL made a mistake of voting in favour of some provisions of the Official Languages Act, Waterford TD John Deasy claimed yesterday.

Speaking during a debate on the Irish language in the Dáil yesterday, Mr Deasy said that his party should repeal certain aspects of the act if in Government.

“We should not be afraid to say so. We made a mistake in voting in favour of some provisions and the Government did also,” he said.

However, Fine Gael’s spokesman said yesterday that the party supported the act and that Mr Deasy was expressing his view.

Mr Deasy took issue with the high costs and necessity of translating official documents into Irish. He said that implementation of the act was “all over the shop” with some bodies spending up to €200,000 on translation, and some others little or nothing.

But Gaeltacht Minister Éamon Ó Cuív disputed this, saying the total cost last year was €350,000 out of an overall Government budget of €50 billion.

He also rejected calls from Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins to make the Blasket Islands into a national heritage park.

Mr Ó Cuív made the curt comment that nobody spoke Irish on the Blaskets, which were deserted in the 1950s.