Slugger O'Toole

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Latest comments from Concubhar (see all)

Concubhar has commented 219 times (2 in the last month).

1. Comment on Official Languages Act falling into disuse in the Republic?
   on 25 April 2012 at 5:12 pm

   I feel the same way as yourself, DR, regarding promoting Irish through investing in online content, modern music, tv etc. €670,000 per year (budget of Language Commissioner) would be a good start with more effect.

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2. Comment on Official Languages Act falling into disuse in the Republic?
   on 25 April 2012 at 3:16 pm

   There’s alot to be said for what Nordie said above – except I wouldn’t necessarily agree with him about Dinny McGinley. The problem isn’t the Minister – it’s the department which has a bureaucratic attitude to every problem and therefore we have the Official Languages Act which was top heavy on bureaucracy and destined to fail. It’s only function and success was to circumvent constitutional challenges by Gaeilgeoirí to the failure of the State to live up to Art. 8 of the 1937 Constitution.
   The language commissioner admitted to me in an interview back in 2005/6 when I worked with Lá that it would take 20-30 years to get all the various Public bodies – 650 in all – to agree to schemes as ordained by the Act. In the meantime schemes already agreed would expire after 3 years so therefore it set up an impossible situation. The schemes themselves could not be monitored for implementation etc. The whole thing is a train wreck but that’s what was designed.
   At the same time as Irish activists are exercised over whether or not the Language Commissioner is a fully independent office or is incorporated into the Office of the Ombudsman (which is also independent), the Department of Education is cutting back disproportionately on teachers in schools in Gaeltacht areas. That’s not to say that the curriculum they’re teaching isn’t hopelessly flawed – because it is – or that there’s very little effort made to highlight to Gaeltacht children and other Irish speaking children the benefits and usefulness of Irish in a life after school.
   As for Foras na Gaeilge, that’s the living embodiment of how a United Ireland with SF involvment might work, behind a veil of secrecy, top heavy with bureaucracy, without transparency or accountability and politically motivated.

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3. Comment on So what changed between the draft and final versions of the Programme for Government?
   on 20 March 2012 at 3:46 pm

   82 commitments in the document – but not one key commitment regarding the Irish language, the enactment of an Acht Ghaeilge or the implementation of an Irish language strategy?
   I thought things couldn’t get worse when Edwin Poots and co had the Culture Ministry. Now I realise that SF in charge of culture was a huge mistake. They don’t have a notion….

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4. Comment on “This has been custom and practice, I have just put it in writing.”
   on 13 March 2012 at 3:21 pm

   Well what do you expect from a Spin Féin minister, a representative of a party which is part of an administration obsessed with photo-ops and positive stories. They’re even trying to spin the Titanic positively.

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5. Comment on Shrek, RTÉ’s ‘bogus tweet’ gaffe and the problem of digital confirmism…
   on 13 March 2012 at 12:07 pm

   Sure Seán Gallagher let himself down and lost an election – but RTÉ through shoddy standards lost a further chunk of confidence and trust from its viewers. The tweet could easily have been checked. There are vested interests all over the place – the head of the BAI is a former RTE DirectorGeneral and Pat Rabbitte was a contributor to Michael D’s election fund. As a public service broadcaster RTE needs to be more accountable to the public rather than merely fobbing us off with internal inquiries.

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6. Comment on “We cannot impose; this has to come from within Northern Ireland.”
   on 12 March 2012 at 12:27 pm

   Sinn Féin’s record on the border is dubious. For example Gerry Adams has given wholehearted support to Slab Murphy, crossborder smuggler par excellence. Where would Murphy be without the border?
   As for his claims re Irish and the Secretary of State for NI. It’s beyond dispute that the NIO has been less than helpful to Irish – but then again SF have also been behind the mark. For years they refused to take the Culture Ministry – allowing it to fall into the hands of the DUP who went at the irish language like a wrecking ball. The Irish Language Broadcast Fund was axed by DUP’s Edwin Poots. It was later ‘rescued’ by Gerry Adams when the First Minister crisis occurred in 2008. He also set up his Irish language fund – http://www.ciste.ie – at that time and we’re left in no doubt by the website to whom Irish speakers in the north should be grateful in that regard…..

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7. Comment on Republicans thinking about being courageous in reconciliation (unionists say tell us when you’ve made your mind up)…
   on 4 March 2012 at 5:49 pm

   Reconciliation and Declan Kearney should not appear in the same sentence. It wasn’t so long ago that I was in a Raidió na Gaeltachta debate with Declan in which he castigated me for holding an opposing view to his own conception of Sinn Féin being the one true divinity and described me as ‘anti-republican’ and a long time enemy of his party. It would be amusing if it weren’t so serious, this tendency of SF to shoot the messenger and ignore the message. SF haven’t lived up to their lofty commitments on a United Ireland and have managed to show, through all Ireland vehicles (crocks) in which they particpate, the likes of Foras na Gaeilge, that a SF United Ireland is not the way forward but a throwback to stalinist times.
   Declan may talk all he likes in his ‘major articles’ in An Phoblacht – does that make every other article minor – but he doesn’t get it. It’s not unionists – with whom he’s sitting in government – that he needs to convince and win over but the public in the south. Inkgate showed Sinn Féin up to be less than the high moral alternative they proclaim themselves to be – next up is the salary issue. Who does a SF TD or Senator really serve, his party of the state from which he receives wages? Sinn Féin is all gong now – but as we’ve seen in the north, when it comes to being in government, it doesn’t do dinner.

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8. Comment on Printergate: “How many printers has he gone through to print 3 million pages?”
   on 28 February 2012 at 5:43 pm

   Framer is under the impression that Sinn Féin TDs accept only ‘an average industrial wage’ and thus cost the State less. What actually occurs is that SF garnishes the salaries of their TDs and Senators and other Oireachtas employees and leaves them the ‘average industrial wage’, That costs the State the same as if the TDs/Senators were getting the full whack. It’s just that SF gets the benefit. It’s debatable whether this is proper procedure – who is the employer of a SF TD – the taxpayer/voter or the Party?

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9. Comment on Printergate: “How many printers has he gone through to print 3 million pages?”
   on 28 February 2012 at 3:44 pm

   It isn’t two days ago since Mary Lou had an article in the Irish Mail on Sunday complaining about untouched expenses for Oireachtas members and exorbitant salaries for special advisers and junior ministers. Shouldn’t SF answer a simple question: What is the ‘average’ salary paid to the TDs/Senators from the fund gathered by SF from these salaries?

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10. Comment on In praise of… Borgen
    on 6 February 2012 at 10:53 am

    Given that borgen series 2 is at £69, I think I will wait for it on TV. Ouch. Really enjoyed Series one.
    For those who don’t mind subtitles in their drama, Rásaí na Gaillimhe 2 will be starting on TG4 this Wednesday (9.30pm). The first series was exceptional – with a strong emphasis on the comedy – and the second series seems promising.

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