Official Languages Act 2003

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podgeandrodge

Guest
According to the Official Languages Act public bodies must ensure that the Irish Language appears either as prominent or more prominent than the English Language on ALL stationery, compliment slips, fax cover sheets etc etc. Cheques issued by public bodies shall be printed in the Irish Language only. Telephone answering machine announcements must be given in Irish and English. Is the world going mad or what when this madness and expense is imposed on our public services.
 
I too think it's digusting. They should definitely get rid of the English language component.
 
Is the world going mad or what when this madness and expense is imposed on our public services.

Ní cheapaim.
 
"Bris an ghloinne in am phrainne"!

If you saw this would you be able to absorb it quickly enough to act appropriately? It means "break the glass in the time of an emergency" and is shown on buses etc. Personally, I think that it is distracting and should not have equal or greater prominence to the English version.

As for the Green Pages in the centre of the phone book .... talkk about making something more confusing (and voluminous) than it need be. Maybe you could opt in to either the Irish or English versions of State publications.
 
As I understand it, this legislation was brought in in response to a Supreme Court ruling. A similar appraoch in Wales has helped in a dramatic resurgance of Welsh as a spoken language with over 1 million people now fluent in the language.

Nogser
 
Very witty XXXanother personXXX!
I have to agree with Nogser-Having signs splashed in front of us in everyday life is a good way for people to pick up the language! I wouldnt be fluent in Irish but would know the basics and would know all the warning signs and notices that you'd see around! It can only improve our understanding by having it used in everday life!
 
Ní cheapaim.
Click to expand...
Reminds me of the joke (with a northern accent):

An gceapann tú gur informer é Tomás?
Knee Cap him

Code: 
 :lol
 
<Assertion> There are more fluent Mandarin speakers in Ireland than fluent Irish speakers /<Assertion>

Isnt it time that ( at least ) public signage had mandarin information content ? ( For once DB lead )
 
Elderdog

If you would like to spearhead the campaign to have Mandarin installed as the first language of the state then I'm sure we could move in that direction.

Switching alegiance to the next world superpower could be Bertie's next great(?) stroke.

Nogser
 
"Bris an ghloinne in am phrainne"!

If you saw this would you be able to absorb it quickly enough to act appropriately? It means "break the glass in the time of an emergency" and is shown on buses etc. Personally, I think that it is distracting and should not have equal or greater prominence to the English version.

Before the smoking ban the throwing of tobacco was also outlawed on buses: "Ná cath tabac". :)

Reminds me of the joke (with a northern accent):

I guess I was being too subtle so... :\
 
How much are we paying to duplicate printing costs by having everything in two languages ? In all my decades of years in Ireland I have never heard an Irish word spoken except in school or on Rte. I say get rid of the ugly,old and dead irish language.
 
Rabbit

Whether we like it or not Irish is the first official language of the state. So if you want to ditch a language it will have to be English, the other alternative is a constitutional referendum take your pick. Personally I think a bit of repression might do the Irish language some good. the indo has a quote from Justice Hardiman's judgement in the Supreme courts ruling that lead to the Act. (I wonder did he give his judgement in Irish :\ ) According to the Minister the Act (Eamon O'Cuiv) is less onerous than the Supreme court ruling.

Nogser
 
Re: Rabbit
Its your opinion that Irish is an ugly old and dead language but there is obviously a good deal of people in the country who think otherwise.
What do you base your opinion's on? TV perhaps - Italian, French and Spanish are probably all pretty, new ,live languages are they because TV told you!!
 
No Redbhoy, T V did not need to tell me that Spanish and French are alive. I have been to those countries and I already knew people spoke those languages. However, never in Ireland have I heard Irish being spoken outside of that state monopoly RTE, and outside of the school system, because people have to. I have never seen a restaurant menu in Irish , never seen a magazine or paper in Irish. Do not try to tell me that Irish is not dead. Its bad enough that billions of taxpayers money - our money - is spent on Irish, but do not tell us we're deaf and blind.
Lets save the ink, save the paper, save the environment, save time, scrap government publications in Irish for a start.
 
outside of that state monopoly RTE

Er, RTÉ hasn't been a monopoly for a good while now.
 
irish

congratulations Rabbit on being the only one here with some common sense! Everyone else here on another thread would probably be giving out about waste of public finances that we are all funding through our hard paid taxes - this act is not free, it costs every public sector company in Ireland MONEY. And if people want Irish then THEY should pay for it - and while we are at it, if you want Sport you pay for SKY, you want Irish make TG4 a pay per view channel - how many of our contributors to this thread would put their money where their mouth is!!
 
Re: irish

A lot of people might think that Irish isn't worth supporting and maintaining. In fact they might even be in the majority. That doesn't make them right. Beware of the tyranny of the majority.
 
Re: irish

One of my friends was sitting in a pub in Galway talking away to 3 German lads who were basically taking the piss because we couldnt speak our own language! Fortunately my friend spoke good Irish, French and German! The tourists were amazed saying that they couldnt believe that most Irsih people couldnt speak their own language! Tragic!
 
Re: irish

Rabbit, Podgeandrodge,

Well okay you have valid points, and many people would agree with you.

I don't waste time trying to convince people of the importance of the language, and I'm not going to do it now, each to their own and all that. I speak Irish fluently and regurlarly. I don't really care that some people hate the language, that's their problem really.

Rabbit, you are factually wrong, it's not a dead language, yes it's dying in the Gaeltachtai but not dead. It's actually growing outside the Gaeltachtai. Saying it's ugly is a bit subjective and, well, just silly.

Perhaps RTE1, RTE2 should also be made pay per view as well? I wouldn't watch most of the crap on those channels anyway so I'd be happy with that.

We either have a government that spends money on our heritage, or we don't. Most people would agree in principle with money being spent on heritage, arts, sport etc. even though they wouldn't directly benefit from most of the money spent.
 
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