The response to the election debate in the Irish language was another example of the amazing ability of the Irish to live in a pretend world.
Only a tiny fraction of the population have any decent knowledge of the language and only a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction have the ability to conduct a complex political debate in Irish on live television.
What happens in the next election if;
Only two of the leading contenders for Taoiseach can speak Irish?
Will democracy be suspended by excluding the non Irish speaker in favour of the pretence that Irish is our national language?
Only one of the leading contenders for Taoiseach can speak Irish?
Will the contender passionately debate with himself/herself; at least there will be a clear winner. Perhaps the sole Irish speaker could just be interviewed while everybody pretends it’s actually a democratic debate.
None of the leading contenders for Taoiseach can speak Irish?
Will a translator sit beside each contender, will the debate be conducted in English with Irish sub titles?
Or will the whole thing be quietly dropped allowing everybody to continue pretending that Irish is a live language.
Dont agree with you here. We have to aspire to some kind of cultural identity. We have thrown everything else out. Fair play to those involved on this occasion.
Couldn’t agree with you more on the need for cultural identity Jan.
The point I was making wasn’t about culture or the Irish language per se but about the amazing ability we Irish seem to have for self delusion.
Unless something extraordinary happens it is a certainty that those campaigning in future elections for the position of Taoiseach will be incapable of conducting a debate in Irish.
At that point the notion that political debate in Irish is normal will have to be abandoned or some sort of trickery will have to be found to allow the delusion to continue.
Sadly, we’re much better at trickery than facing reality