Bertie’s cracking grasp of language

THE list of languages translated in the Justus Lipsius Building in Brussels, where the EU Summit is taking place, has one vacancy at the bottom.

Deutsch, English, Francais, Italian, Nederlands, Dansk, ENNHNIKA, Espanol, Portugues, Suomi and Svenska occupy the first 11 slots, representing the working languages of the pre-enlargement European Union.

Yesterday evening it was suggested that the last space was reserved for ‘Bertiespeak’, to explain the Taoiseach’s oft lamented unique form of dialect to the assembled international media.