Protestants and the Irish language

[Ceilteach]

Why do Protestants and Unionists have a fear over Irish? It isn't a political tool, its a language for all of us to learn and speak on the island as a whole.

A question directed at unionists, would they learn Irish if it wasn't a political tool in the country? Chris McGimpsey is a Unionist politician and a fluent Irish speaker there a few other Protestants that are Irish speakers in the 6 counties.

People in Catalonia don't want to be Spanish, but they still speak it.

Interesting article with Protestants and the Irish language:
CAIN: Key Issue: Language: Pritchard, R.M.O. (2004) Protestants and the Irish Language: Historical Heritage and Current Attitudes in Northern Ireland.

Gordon McCoy an Irish speaking Protestant from East Belfast appearntley had an Irish class on the Shankhill so I read somewhere on that article.

Unionists are bigot minded about Irish and they do not realise the amount literature and cultural the language has, Irish has one of the oldest literature in Western Europe.

[DeGaulle 2.0]

Why do Protestants and Unionists have a fear over Irish? It isn't a political tool, its a language for all of us to learn and speak on the island as a whole.

A question directed at unionists, would they learn Irish if it wasn't a political tool in the country? Chris McGimpsey is a Unionist politician and a fluent Irish speaker there a few other Protestants that are Irish speakers in the 6 counties.

People in Catalonia don't want to be Spanish, but they still speak it.

Interesting article with Protestants and the Irish language:
CAIN: Key Issue: Language: Pritchard, R.M.O. (2004) Protestants and the Irish Language: Historical Heritage and Current Attitudes in Northern Ireland.

Gordon McCoy an Irish speaking Protestant from East Belfast appearntley had an Irish class on the Shankhill so I read somewhere on that article.

Unionists are bigot minded about Irish and they do not realise the amount literature and cultural the language has, Irish has one of the oldest literature in Western Europe.

Maybe in a United Ireland when we introduce compulsory Irish in the 6 counties we could allow the unionsts to learn Scottish Gaelic instead, as a sop.

[Ceilteach]

Maybe in a United Ireland when we introduce compulsory Irish in the 6 counties we could allow the unionsts to learn Scottish Gaelic instead, as a sop.

That would never happen as there would be a shortage of teachers and besides nearly every unionist don't care about Scottish Gaelic or even aware of it. There is more Irish speakers in the 6 counties than Scottish Gaelic speakers in Scotland.

[Robo]

We are just not interested in the Irish language as an every day use language. If anything I think the world is moving to a single mono language, part of my family would have spoken Scottish Gaelic about 4 or 5 generations ago. I don't feel any draw to that or Irish but Chinese or Spainish depending on what the world opts for may be a better option to learn.

[Ceilteach]

People say ''No one speakers Irish, what is the point'' if that is everyones attitude, then that would be the case.

[diy01]

For starters, not all unionists or Protestants are afraid of Irish or hostile towards the language. You shouldn't be making blanket statements like: "Unionists are bigot minded about Irish...".

Secondly, the language isn't nearly as political in the Republic as it is in NI.

I also don't buy it when people say they will learn Spanish or Chinese instead of Irish. I think this is a copout as the majority of native English speakers never become fluent in a second language. Few even make the effort. There's not much need for it, in most cases. Why would some Irish born native English speaker even bother to learn a second language unless they are planning on moving to a country where those languages are needed out of necessity? It's better if non-English speaking immigrants focus on becoming fluent in English.

We've reached the point where learning Irish as a second language is something done out of interest rather than necessity. The last adult monoglot speakers died in the 1970s. The number of native speakers continues to drop. So it's down to cultural reasons. That said, I personally think Irish people speaking the Irish language in Ireland is one of the most natural, reasonable things that can be done. So more power to people who do it and treat the language with the respect it deserves!

[Andrew49]

Ceilteach Wrote:

Unionists are bigot minded about Irish [language]

Gaelic should be a compulsory subject in the Six Counties, after all it's worked very well on the rest of the island.

[Squire Allworthy]

Why do Protestants and Unionists have a fear over Irish? It isn't a political tool, its a language for all of us to learn and speak on the island as a whole.


People in Catalonia don't want to be Spanish, but they still speak it.

My guess would be that they have no interest in it and see it as a complete waste of time and money, and to them it is. Seen from that perspective why not spend the time and money learning German or Chinese?

As for Catalonia, hard to get by without Spanish. Why do Irish speakers speak English may be a better question.

Forcing Unionists to learn Irish is not the answer. Make it available to those who want to. These things take time and charging around like a bull in a china shop is not the way forward.

Also it has to be asked, does it really matter? Surely on matters like this what someone else wants to do is entirely up to them? Should we discriminate against non Irish speakers?

[Robo]

For starters, not all unionists or Protestants are afraid of Irish or hostile towards the language. You shouldn't be making blanket statements like: "Unionists are bigot minded about Irish...".

Secondly, the language isn't nearly as political in the Republic as it is in NI.

I also don't buy it when people say they will learn Spanish or Chinese instead of Irish. I think this is a copout as the majority of native English speakers never become fluent in a second language. Few even make the effort. There's not much need for it, in most cases. Why would some Irish born native English speaker even bother to learn a second language unless they are planning on moving to a country where those languages are needed out of necessity? It's better if non-English speaking immigrants focus on becoming fluent in English.

We've reached the point where learning Irish as a second language is something done out of interest rather than necessity. The last adult monoglot speakers died in the 1970s. The number of native speakers continues to drop. So it's down to cultural reasons. That said, I personally think Irish people speaking the Irish language in Ireland is one of the most natural, reasonable things that can be done. So more power to people who do it and treat the language with the respect it deserves!

Most state schools in the north teach, French, German and Spanish. The kids can pick to learn or not what they like, they could add Irish to that. I doubt there would be much uptake of Irish.

[inchicore_republican]

Why do Protestants and Unionists have a fear over Irish? It isn't a political tool, its a language for all of us to learn and speak on the island as a whole.

A question directed at unionists, would they learn Irish if it wasn't a political tool in the country? Chris McGimpsey is a Unionist politician and a fluent Irish speaker there a few other Protestants that are Irish speakers in the 6 counties.

People in Catalonia don't want to be Spanish, but they still speak it.

Interesting article with Protestants and the Irish language:
CAIN: Key Issue: Language: Pritchard, R.M.O. (2004) Protestants and the Irish Language: Historical Heritage and Current Attitudes in Northern Ireland.

Gordon McCoy an Irish speaking Protestant from East Belfast appearntley had an Irish class on the Shankhill so I read somewhere on that article.

Unionists are bigot minded about Irish and they do not realise the amount literature and cultural the language has, Irish has one of the oldest literature in Western Europe.

Why did you have to bring religion into it why not just say Unionists ?