Re: Irish warning on cigarette packs
"Look here, if our children did some other study rather than Irish, they would be a bit more proficient at being well rounded individuals."
Strange then that children from Gaelscoileanna seem to be at a decided academic advantage in later years. And remember - this a reasonably free market: most of the newer Gaeilscoileanna are in non-gaeltacht areas, and are oversubscribed.
You can certainly argue about whether the Irish language specifically needs subsidy and support. However, it is worth bearing in mind that we do not need to approach the debate in terms of whether or not the Irish language should be preserved: there is a bigger issue, of which we are part. There is a much larger debate - which is the issue of whether we should (globally) be making any attempts to preserve linguistic diversity, or whether it is in fact a good thing that many languages should die out and that the world should basically operate (eventually) with just 4 or 5 major language groups. This is a very interesting debate, but one which is beyond the scope of the topic here today.