A tongue-tied céad mile falter

PROTESTERS demanding more EU recognition for the Irish language outside Dublin Castle yesterday couldn’t give a focal.

When Europe Minister Dick Roche approached them and starting chatting in Irish, no one knew what he was saying.

"I went over to the campaigners and started to talk to them in Irish but they hadn't got any Irish," said Mr Roche.

But he said: "It doesn't make any difference to the cause, because these kind of things are based on emotions."

In a bid to embarrass the Government for its failure to insist on the inclusion of Irish on the list of official EU working languages, Irish language enthusiasts timed their protest to coincide with the first Forum of Europe meeting during Ireland's presidency of the EU.

"Thanks to Government inertia, Irish will soon be the only one of 20 European Union languages without official status in Brussels," said protester and Irish speaker Emer Ní Chonchubhair.

In May, nine new languages Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovene and Maltese will become official languages, alongside English, Danish, Swedish, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Finnish, Greek and German.

This will mean 20 official languages, requiring in each case 150 new translators and interpreters. If Irish was given official status it would also mean EU laws and official documents would have to be issued in Irish. Irish has "treaty language" status, which means that an EU citizen can write to an EU institution in Irish and receive a reply in the same language.

When the Government said in 1971 it did not wish Irish to become an official and working language of the EEC, the reason given was the translation work would present problems. The protesters held no truck with this view.

"Not listing Irish as an official working language, means it will not be recognised as a second language when Irish speakers apply for a job in Brussels," Ms Ní Chonchubhair said.

Solicitor Daithí Mac Cárthaigh, a fluent Irish speaker who spearheaded the protest, said it was ludicrous for the Government to spend money on teaching Irish when it would not support promoting it to official EU language status.