Irish in Europe - Language needs help to survive

GETTING Irish recognised as an official working language of the European Union was quiet a cause celebré, one that energised language activists and their supporters.

Indeed the campaign afforded our forceful Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív a platform to use his special blend of persuasion and parish-pump autocracy.

The realisation of that ambition, so dearly held by those who use the language on a daily basis, was a natural step in our ever-deepening relationship with our European neighbours.

However, the newly afforded “official working language” status is not permanent and will be reviewed by European officials in a mere four years’ time.

Less than 30 minutes of Irish was spoken in the European Parliament in its first full year as an official language. If current levels of usage are not increased it is likely that the European Parliament will decide that the demand does not justify the cost of sustaining translation services.

Providing an Irish-language option across all EU institutions is estimated to cost in the region of €3.5 million each year. Parliamentary translation cost €360,000 last year, meaning each minute an Irish MEP chose the medium of our first language cost €13,000.

One parliamentarian, Fianna Fáil’s Seán Ó Neachtain, accounted for more than a third of all Irish spoken in the European Parliament last year.

There are four interpreters working there, two at a time and there are two shifts a day for the 10 days the parliament sits each month. Those interpreters cost €30,000 a month, which is paid by the EU with contributions from member states, including Ireland.

Two translators are needed, argue officials, in case a situation develops where parliamentary protagonists decide to confront each other using Irish. A person would not have to be terribly sceptical to struggle to try to imagine what set of circumstances, what tremendous issues, would bring that unlikely event to pass.

Compared with the war chest needed by, say, an American presidential hopeful or that needed to sustain the EU’s farm policies, these are piffling figures but they should not be considered in isolation.

There are a plethora of national funding schemes and encouragements in place to try to rejuvenate the language but none of them seem to be working. There are jobs’ agencies, cultural initiatives, Irish schools, a radio station and a television station, an obligation to make all official documents available through Irish.

And, in what has become an unintentionally ironic gesture, the TV commentary on the minor All-Ireland finals are traditionally given through Irish. When the main attraction comes on stage even our national broadcaster and our national games seem to prefer English.

Compared with the visible, audible and very contemporary revitalisation of Welsh everyday use of Irish is at a far lower level than many would hope for.

The review, by EU officials in 2012, which will decide whether the “official working language” status can be sustained will be objective and without emotion.

Maybe it is time we brought those qualities to bear on any proposals aimed at strengthening the position of Irish in our society. Otherwise it seems like nothing as much as another instalment in that great Irish tradition: jobs for na buachaillí.