Irish Examiner view: Reviving Irish language must include more than road signs

Cork County Council is to insist from now on that the Irish language be used for all roadworks and that they be spelled correctly. Picture: Larry Cummins

As is all too plain and tragic to see, the Irish language has been weaponised in Northern Ireland’s never-ending confrontation. Whatever your view on that conflict might be, it seems reasonable to suggest that the language has become one of its casualties. It is now a badge more than an idiom.

Despite that, or because of that, discussing the language or efforts to encourage its use south of the border remains almost a taboo subject. Any suggestion that efforts to revive it is a case of throwing good money after bad provokes outrage, albeit from a shrinking minority.

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The latest manifestation of that is Cork County Council’s insistence that contractors applying for temporary road closure/traffic management licences must use bilingual signage at all works.

That obligation is rooted in national legislation but, increasingly, it seems disconnected from the reality of Irish life.

If the Irish language is to be revived, it will need imagination and support that go far beyond this kind of intervention.