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Cartoon – “Do you do big Mács”

on 13 June 2015 , 1:29 pm 74 | 2,261 views

Niall Ó Donnghaile cartoon

Former Mayor of Belfast and Sinn Fein councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile said not being able to place an order in Irish at McDonalds is an example of where equality of rights of Irish speakers isn’t being met.

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  • Reader

    And after McDonald’s, the local corner shop, then the window cleaner.

  • chrisjones2

    Oh do leave him alone,

    In contrast to Ó Muilleoir, for example, poor Niall was never the sharpest Knife in the drawer of Belfast Lord Mayors we have known nor the most dynamic in delivering for all its Citizens

    Aside too from the fact that many McD or KFC workers might be more fluent in Polish or Urdu, the poor lad is just doing what Gerry and the Party told him. To weaponise Irish and use it as a tool to destroy the Prods culture.

    I suggest he goes off to Dublin for a day (cheap trip on the Enterprise on expenses as ‘research’) and tries ordering his Big Mac or whatever else in Irish in McDonalds or Centra in O Connell Street. Lets see the response he gets.

    Since Friday last he cant test his language skills in Clerys anymore – but perhaps that is another lesson to be learned on whats really important for Ireland and her peoples. Recent reports in the Irish Times quoted that apart from English and a bit of Irish 132 different languages are now spoken in homes in Dublin. I personally think that is great. The sadness is that Irish seems to be dying even in the Gaeltacht as people move on and look to the future.

    But then people there are looking to the future for them and their families and are not ambitious politicians with their feet mired in the mud of the past and nothing positive to say to us. Curry my yogurt is about the level of all this nonsense on both sides. We have bigger and more pressing problems to resolve.

  • Sergiogiorgio

    “I demand everyone be forced to learn Irish, so I can feel equal”. Oxymoron anyone, with emphasis on the moron….

  • Old Mortality

    Forget McDonalds. Has he even managed to transact business in Irish at his local wee shap yet.

  • whatif1984true

    Small minded bigotry, forcing a culture on others and wasting big gobs of money. Compare this to Germany which has free University for everyone and”At … the Technical University in Munich, 20% of
    students are non-German. The University president is keen to have every
    single graduate programme offered in English, and only in English, by
    the year 2020.”
    It makes me think some people would be better back on a wee farm to fit in with their limited horizons and where they could keep their pettiness to themselves. They are living stereotypes.

  • chrisjones2

    ….. would Marty trust him to do a message to the shops?

  • Sergiogiorgio

    Peter wouldn’t, he only trusts……oops, I feel a Fealty alert!

  • james

    And indeed being denied the chance to place a bet at the bookies, order a pint and a packet of fags in Irish. Cultural oppression of the first water.

  • chrisjones2

    Curses….

  • chrisjones2

    Surely an up and coming young Shinner wont smoke or drink or go out with wicked weemin. The future of Ireland calls!!!!

  • james

    Yes, I don’t think their proclivities stretch to convential dating.

  • chrisjones2

    I always imagine them having heated debates on the impact of dialectic materialism in the works of James Connolly …… then falling on each other in a frenzy

    Robin ..any comments?

  • Sergiogiorgio

    Get you and your fancy YouTube insert files. The clip may just be a genius analogy for Stormont, except there ain’t no roadrunners on Da’ Hill. They’re all Wile’s but less effective and even funnier to watch/listen to.

  • mjh

    The solution to this gap in the market?

    Ó Donnghaile’s

  • Zeno

    LOL, that made me laugh…….. I didn’t realise how loopy he was. I’m away to look for his twitter account.

  • Reader

    BrianJohnSpencr: …Niall Ó Donnghaile said not being able to place an order in Irish at McDonalds…
    This claim is strange. According to the census, 11% of the population of Belfast can speak Irish. Maybe Niall was just unlucky that day? Or the Irish speakers are all in suits with better jobs than working in McDonald’s?

  • Zig70

    Why not, Sainsburys made the effort.

  • Ben De Hellenbacque

    Is Sinners’ Irish grammar, punctuation and syntax as dire as their English grammar, punctuation and syntax? Surely all just another distraction from yet another glaring and widespread problem in NI i.e. the generally woefully poor command of basic English.

  • Korhomme

    Bon jour, je voudrais un Mac grand s’ll vous plaît.

    Guten Tag! Ich möchte einen großer Mac bitte sehr! Sofort!

  • Mountjoy

    Ó Donnghaile may have a point. I attempted to order a ‘Happy Meal’ in Urdu, at my local McDonalds last week but to no avail. Clearly in the interests of equality a second language must be made an essential criteria for those seeking employment in the service sector. Adams it seems is not the only visionary in the party.

  • tmitch57

    Quick nationalize all the McDonald’s and other franchise restaurants in Belfast and force them to hire only bilingual workers. Soon they will be as efficient at serving the needs of their customers as a typical Moscow restaurant in the 1980s.

  • Skibo

    I think a lot of posters here have missed the point. McDonalds offer the ability of ordering in Welsh, in Wales yet here they do not offer the ability to order in Irish. I would expect McDonalds who are publicity savy to correct this shortly.

  • james

    Far better to learn it in French/German/Spanish/Chinese (either)/Russian/Polish/Portuguese….. it’s a question I’ve never received a proper answer to from Republicans: why sacrifice our children’s prospects just to boost your tired 19th century ideals?

  • Sergiogiorgio

    I think most of the posters understood the point completely.

  • james

    I speak Spanish and Italian fluently. Yet when I go into the bank I can’t use those languages. Dammit where are my civil rights?!!

  • Zig70

    If the Irish Language died out completely now, people would look back and call it a tragedy. We are Irish, our history, culture and especially the way we think and interact is embedded in our native tongue. Maybe read up on what Gandhi said about native tongues and why conquering nations found it important to oppress it. Why now do unionists have no embarrassment in this day and age in their efforts to suppress it? It’s a unique and rich language. Also maybe if we had a bilingual culture, our working class education might get a much needed lift. I’ve brought my kids up to cherish languages of any sort, it’s a key part of their growing brain.

  • ranger1640

    The next thing they will be demanding is that the small Union flag stickers from produce is removed.
    http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/05/06/are-you-serious-redux/

  • mjh

    Which is what makes Ó Donnghaile pathetic intervention so deplorable.

    If he intended to maximise hostility towards the Irish language he could do nothing more effective than make these kinds of statements.

  • submariner

    You could if you were in Spain and Italy Amigo.

  • peepoday

    Do they sell Trojan horse burgers?

  • submariner

    Happy liquidation day mate

  • whatif1984true

    In the Republic there are 50% more native Polish speakers than Irish speakers. Not a reason to abandon Irish but FOOD for thought,

  • james

    Exactly. Spanish is the language spoken by Spaniards, Italian is the language spoken by Italians and English is the language spoken by the Irish and Northern Irish. Just as some Italians also speak Sardo or Gallurese, some in Ireland speak Irish and many in Northern Ireland speak Ulster Scots. But the languages universally used and needed in those countries are Italian and English respectively. Now, it may be quite nice for a Sicilian, a Sardinian and a Neopolitan to each go to the same cafe in Milan and be understood by the waiter each in his local dialect, it would be silly, impractical and intemperate to demand it. I realise that being silly, impractical and intemperate seems to underwrite most of SF official policies, however, so I suppose I shouldn’t really waste my breath.

  • james

    Yes indeed. And we can keep more Protestants out of work by insisting on a nonsense requirement…

  • james

    Natural selection. If it were important, valuable and useful, it would survive organically, carried by the people who use it. If it isn’t, it won’t.

  • Skibo

    Not a negative against anyone, just a positive for the Irish language. Wonder do they employ anyone with sign language for the deaf. Would that be seen as discrimination against the hearing?

  • Nevin

    Brian, I thought you’d like this – my yogurt and Cory!

  • Zig70

    Natural selection doesn’t have much validity in current human culture. There are 2 reasons for you to try to repress Irish that I can see, bigotry or dislike of languages. My cognitive language skills are poor, I struggle with languages and I can understand people who resented being forced to learn it at school. The other aspect is just a demonstration of why unionists won’t be allowed to govern NI on in their own right as the majority political viewpoint again. What are you afraid of? Most would see it as ridiculous not to speak Korean in Korea or Hindi in India.

  • mjh

    Nearly 50 years ago the Civil Rights Movement campaigned for, amongst other things, an end to discrimination in employment.

    Today Ó Donnghaile is promoting a policy which would mean, for all practical purposes, that even a job in McDonalds could be closed to you if you had not gone to a school which taught Irish.

    Think about it.

  • babyface finlayson

    I imagine it would not be all employees but rather having someone on the staff who could take the order.
    It is pretty silly though. There would have to be an UlsterScots speaker too for balance.

  • submariner

    Spanish and Italian are the indigenous languages of those countries in the same way as Irish is the indigenous here.

  • submariner

    Ulster scots is not a language it is a dialect of english

  • mjh

    100% or 15% the principle’s the same.

    And balancing that discrimination with reserving an equal number of jobs for those with Ulster Scots credentials (are there lessons leading to such a qualification?) would make it no better.

    The policy’s a pig and there just ain’t enough lipstick.

  • james

    Nope. The current ‘Italian’ is one of many dialects spoken in what is now Italy before it was ‘Italy’, united under Garibaldi, when it was selected as the national tongue. My point is that languages, and nations, are constantly evolving. Neither Canada nor the USA existed in their present national forms in, for instance, the time of the Plantation. Times change, and most people simply deal with that.

  • james

    Yes, as the local languages I mentioned are dialects.

  • james

    I’m not looking to repress anything. If people wish to speak it, by all means. I’m just opposes to wasting scarce economic resources flogging a dead horse.

  • james

    Nope. Because deaf people cannot hear the spoken language. All but, perhaps, a few hundred Irish speakers understand English.

  • Eoin Ó Riain

    Irish is the language used in my neighbourhood and more then 20 miles east and west of me yet the Irish Government, Local Government and Banks refuse me service in the language of the people. I can however order a SuperMac Burger in Irish (No McDonalds nearby) and do business in my local shops, garages, hardware store and pub…

  • james

    I understand that. But do you seriously expect businesses to hire only bi-lingual staff to accomodate you, even though by the evidence of your written English you are perfectly fluent? Or is this a bout of willful contrariness?

  • Zig70

    If we make it a dead horse then shame on us, history would look on us as culturally ignorant. Though at the minute I don’t think that will happen. There is a lot of money being thrown at it with Bunscoils, liofa and tv adverts. The Gaeltacht my kids go to, is over subscribed this year. The point of this article is Niall’s desire to get McDonalds to include dual language signage similar to what they do for Wales, arguably won’t cost you any money. Sainsburys already do it here in some stores. I’d be happy if people just respected the desire of others to use it by not demeaning it. If you had have started the argument by saying you would oppose it if it meant the price of your big mac went up then I’d have been unlikely to respond.

  • Pj

    Ulster Scots isn’t a real language, it’s just putting slang words on normal English.

  • Pj

    The Irish language is open to all to learn or improve on. It’s part of their history too

  • james

    Certainly it is. But it should absolutely not be mandatory, and certainly not at the expense of practical subjects.

  • james

    A rather ignorant comment if you don’t mind my saying so.

  • james

    I don’t eat in McDonald’s or anywhere like it – in fact price hikes there would be a good thing. I object to the notion that staff would be conpelled to learn it if they don’t want to.

  • james

    Obviously SF never had an issue with discrimination per se, in fact they seem to welcome it so long as it as targeted at Protestants.

  • james

    Cover for Conor Murphy’s laughable performance on Nolan, you say? Hmmm… Certainly John O’Dowd’s spoken English is shocking.

  • james

    Define ‘speak Irish’. I know two words of it, but that hardly makes me an Irish speaker.

  • babyface finlayson

    The allegation that McDonald’s are selling horsemeat in their burgers is without foundation!

  • babyface finlayson

    It would not be a matter of discriminating in employment practice, but rather offering a 10 week training course to existing staff. They are only taking orders for a big mac and fries, not translating the works of Shakespeare.
    A savvy company like McDonalds might consider it good marketing.
    It’s well down the list of important stuff to do though.

  • Kevin Breslin

    Devoid of humour and original satire as per usual.

  • Kevin Breslin

    The current Italian is mainly Tuscan, but that’s not to say that the other Italian languages are not regional. Sardinian would’ve evolved quite differently to Tuscan for example.

    While McDonald’s generally doesn’t do minority languages in most countries, it does do both Catalan and Castilian Spanish in Spain.

    Who do I have to thank for this information, our old friend Nicholas Whyte of course.

    http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/34l/default.htm

  • Kevin Breslin

    Some of these “dialects” would be different from the Tuscan based modern Italian they’d be considered as different a language from Italian; as Occitan is from French, Salvonian is from German, or at the most extreme Basque is from Spanish.

  • Am Ghobsmacht

    Brian

    Could you add a menu selection that includes:

    “Dead horse burger from SF’s ‘equality’ range, hand-flogged by Sinn Fein and slaughtered, butchered and minced-up by artisans with no connection to SF whatsoever…”

  • james

    I’ve never heard that one.

  • barnshee

    “If the Irish Language died out completely now, people would look back and call it a tragedy”

    Correction

    If the Irish Language died out completely now, SOME people would look back and call it a tragedy

  • Kevin Breslin

    I wouldn’t be harsh on Sinn Féin’s Irish Grammar, punctuation and syntax, when the title of this thread simply tries to make something Irish with a random fada accent.
    Pretty much out of the Spın̈al Tap book of misappropriated grammar either than or by some random tangent Niall has become some Rohingya speaker using a loan word native to him asking the bewildered salesperson if it’s they’ve had a long month.
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/m%C3%A1c

  • barnshee

    Get Macdonalds to associate with the Irish Language in NI = immediate loss of 50%(?) of its customers. hardly a sound economic move.

    PS If you have pursued “Irish” as a subject at school/college /university your only hopes for employment are are to create an “irish Industry” on navel gazing or climb on the overcrowded taxpayer funded SF political bandwagon.
    Your choice sunshine

    Next

    The unionists stopped me being a- Doctor/Dentist/Lawyer -buying a big Mac in Irish-complete to choice

  • Kevin Breslin

    What’s this “at the expense of practical subjects” complaint about?

    There are plenty of impractical ways of using English.

  • Kevin Breslin

    How’s about a total ban on everything Irish, since both Mac and Donald are both Gaelic in origin, Donald from the Gaelic for world rule and Mac from the Gaelic for son, so instead of being called MacDonald’s an Angligized version of Gaelic the restaurant chain should be called Fitzwelthershaft’s to appease puritan Anglo-Saxon speakers who want nothing to do with the language.

    Can I have a Big Fitz please, danke!

  • james

    So I see…

  • Spike

    Unfortunately for us it seems we live in a part of the world that only tolerates culture and languages if they are our own culture and language. The scots and welsh embrace their celtic and british heritage, whereas some people here seem to see it as a disease which erodes their britishness. Expect a boycott of sainsburys after some posters read that some of their shops have bi-lingual signage.

  • babyface finlayson

    Brian

    How about for a caption:

    ‘The boy who asked for mór!’

  • Kevin Breslin

    Listening to the debate, we’re talking about a McDonald’s in the Gaeltacht not in East Belfast … Can’t understand the offence.