“Campaigning will continue to achieve an Irish Language Act..”
Previously it was the UK government, in the form of Jonathan Powell, writing speeches for Gerry Adams, now the Sinn Féin president is making statements on behalf of the UK government. As reported here, Gerry Adams has announced that
“The British government has committed to providing an additional £6 million expressly for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund when the current funding runs out next March. This new funding will cover the ILBF for a further two years.”
Still, at least that trip to Downing St was worthwhile.. Let’s hope someone remembers to tell the Northern Ireland Culture Minister.. Adds From the DUP’s Nelson McCausland – “It is hard not to feel a certain sense of pity for Sinn Fein over this issue..”
Sound Bloke,
I think it should be noted that the word ‘leid’ is guid Scots. However that word does not exist in Ulster speech.
So the question would have to be put on a linguistic basis, do efforts to make Ulster-Scots more like Scots, and might I say East Coast Scots, actually threaten traditional Ulster forms of Scots?
I might add that James Fenton refers to Ulster Scots speech as the hamely tongue rather than ‘leid’.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamely-Tongue-Personal-Record-Ulster-Scots/dp/1900423006
Fenton’s word is the most valuable and authentic (apart from perhaps The Concise Ulster Dictionary).
It is a great pity that san academic linguistic did not write a phonetic representation of it or that no cd was available.
In terms of “parity of funding” for Irish and ‘Ulster-Scots’, when the ILBF was set up and funded over a four year period to create Irish language programming, create jobs and train young people, the ‘Ulster-Scots’ crowd was given the same amount over the same period to develop their ‘language’.
And then Poots made the decision that Ulster-Scots deserved more money than Irish. For what possible reason could that have been, so the Ulster-Scots Agency could bankroll more Orange Order CDs? (CDs that don’t even pretend to be in ‘Ulster-Scots’.)
It’s interesting that no-one demanding parity of funding has posted any ideas about programmes they would like to make actually in Ulster Scots.
Equally deafening is the silence from the Boord o Ulstèr Scotch. Why no strong demands for equal funding from them? Is it because they know that they would be hard pressed to come up with the breadth of output that the ILBF has assisted?
Why are we listening to Nelson McCausland and not Mark Thompson?
Why did the Newsletter talk to Lord Laird and not George Patton?
Why did the Newsletter say “fury erupted” over the £6 million when they spoke only to Laird (a man who could spend the money on taxis alone) and quoted from Nelson’s very, very childish press release?
And why is every single “forthcoming course” mentioned on the Boord’s website to do with dancing and not a single language course?