THE IRISH LANGUAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19456, 12 October 1926, Page 9

THE IRISH LANGUAGE.

EFFORTS TO RESTORE USE* COMMISSION'S REPORT, j ENGLISH GENERALLY DOMINANT* [from our own correspondent.] DUBLIN, Sept. 9. Tho extent to which the Irish language* is used in the Irish Free State has been investigated by the Gaelic Commission which was appointed in January, 1925, to report as to the proportion of Irish" speakers in a district which would war" rant its being regarded as an Irish-speak-ing district or partly Irish-speaking district. Hie commission has reported that there has been a falling off in the number of Irish-speakers and that even in tho Gaeltacht there is hardly a district where English is not spoken. The commission declares that unless strong measures ar« taken tho "death knell" of the languag# has been sounded. It is suggested that in order to maka Irish the predominant language of tbo Gaeltacht and the congested areas, promotion in the Civil Service, CivicjGuard and the army should depend on the applicant's knowledge of Irish. It is also suggested that the clergy and other professions, and the press as well as directors of commercial and industrial establishments should "by example" and by; "varying degrees of constraint" exert a special influence in the use of Irish. It is recommended that citizens of the Free State should not be permitted to enter tho professions "without an adequate knowledge of the Irish language." '

Condition ol Promotion. In connection with the army, the commission has recommended that at least one brigade of the army shall have Irish as the language of administration and be formed of Irish-speakers. All future entrants to the officer rank shotild be required to possess a sound knowledge of the national language, and that one-third of all future vacancies in the officer rank should be reserved for persons who answer all examinations in Irish and undergo a special oral examination in Irish. Large schemes are recommended for arterial drainage and afforestation in thd Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking district), fishery ais technical schools are recommended in Donegal, Galway and Dingle (Co. Kerry). State loans for large boats and equipment as well as a Government brand for mackerel, the setting up of carding and finishing mills, and the establishment of a State stamp for clothes of a particular quality are also recommended, as well as the provision of a central depot for the marking of homespuns and other rural industry products of the Gaeltacht. The Irish-speaking districts are located in parts of .Donegal; Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, '• Cork, Waterford, Sligo and Tipperary. * * Generally the Irishspeaking population is falling rapidly, and no district now exists where English is not spoken and does not tend to assume supremacy.' The prestige of the Irish language is low; many who can speak it refuse to do so continually; the educated and better-class men and women [ of the country have no use for it and are I entirely ignorant the subject. They will not have their children taught, as an Irish-speaker is very little use, in fact, no use once he leaves the Saorstat, without a knowledge of English. ''

Expansive Sentiment. An -illustration of the results' of efforts to enforce the official use of the language is afforded by the experience of Dundalk, a small town in County Louth, which has been asked to pay £72 for translating its Harbour Bill of 1925 into Irish. One of the members of the Harbour Board declared it to* bta the "most grotesque piece of, extravagance that he had ever beard of." The Dundalk Harbour and Port Act was used by the commissioners, their officials and the shippers of the port, not one of whom had the faintest idea of Irish, nor would they have for the next generation or two. If he had dreamed that "that Miserable two-penny half-penny Act" was going-to cost them £2700 altogether, he would never have gone on with it. In the Imperial Parliament itcould be done for less than £SOO. The board decided to, inform the Government that the charge was "nothing short of extravagance," and that it did not require the bill in Irish at all.

But Dundalk is not alone in its complaint. Everyone who brings forward a private bill is compelled to have it printed in Irish and English, though nobody can read or ever tries to read the Irish. Even the Dail debates are published in Irish and English, a huge waste of money. The , very doors of Leinster House, where Parliament sits, bear inscriptions in Irish and English, the latter because even the members of the , Dail arc not speakers of thennative tongue.