A Chairde,
A lot of work has been carried out by a lot of people recently in pressurising the British Government to introduce an Irish Language Act here in the north of Ireland. This will be introduced shortly.
However it is very likely that, without petition support, this act will be a "toothless tiger". That is to say that it will legislate for very little - apart from giving them an excuse to say that they introduced legislation - finally.
I am therefore asking you (as hundreds of other people across the north are doing) to do the following:-
1) Send a letter / e-mail to DCAL (the government body responsible for drafting this document) outlining your reasons for supporting legislation protecting the language.
(Copy your e-mail to eolas@pobal.org)
Margaret O'Keefe
Irish Language Bill Team,
DCAL,
3rd Floor Interpoint
20-24 York Street
Belfast BT15 1AQ
OR by email to
Margaret.OKeeffe@dcalni.gov.uk
2) Sign the on-line petition
www.petitiononline.com/acht
It is imperative that as many people act on this as possible before the deadline ... 2nd March 2007. Otherwise we will have missed our best chance for years.
This is not only open to the people of the North. Submissions will be accepted from the South, England, Scotland, Wales, USA, Australia, and any where else where people will support the language.
Finally everyone in your home can submit a response, not just 1 per household.
Target schools, friends, your workplace, places of leisure.
Go raibh maith agaibhsa,
Damien McConomy
Chairperson
Naíscoil an tSeanchaí
Killowen Drive Magherafelt
County Derry
BT45 6DS
Some reasons why / how the language should be protected:-
*Irish is the historical language of this island
*It is your right that your children be educated in their native language
*10.4% of the population here have Irish to various degrees of fluency
*Equal provision must be made to education in both English & Irish - pre-school, primary, secondary & further education
*Bilingualism should be apparent on the documentation & signage provided by every government body here
*The Irish language is the only primary indigenous language in the islands that has not been subject to legislative protection.
- all songs are living ghosts and long for a living voice - B.K.