Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am somewhat embarrassed to have to address Ms Ní Ghallchóir in English, unfortunately. However, I wish her the best of luck in the massive task she faces. She has mentioned the reports suggesting we might have just 15 years to deal with this issue. I believe that to be true. I do not come from a Gaeltacht area and have massive difficulty in learning a language if I am not immersed in it. I got a "D" in pass Irish in my leaving certificate examination. I find it very difficult to learn a language by any means other than being immersed in it. Every person in my leaving certificate class found it equally as difficult. That is why Ms Ní Ghallchóir and other "seed savers" have such an important job. They have the seed which they need to help to grow. I need to go to places like the Gaeltacht to learn Irish. The same applies to my children. That is why it is so essential that people like Ms Ní Ghallchóir are successful. Some of the people here and many of the people with whom I went to school would have learned Irish if they had gone to school drunk because they had that type of brain, but that does not apply to most people who are like me. That is why it is so essential for Údarás na Gaeltachta and the other organisations to survive.

When I was growing up, brown bread was left for the poor people because it was unfashionable to eat it. Rich people ate white bread until there was news that eating brown bread was better. Now rich people are eating brown bread, while many poor people have to eat white bread. The same applies in the case of the Irish language. There was a time when it was spoken mainly by poorer people. I am not trying to create a class divide, but that is my experience. When I was in school, all of the rich children went to the Gaeltacht. Perhaps they did not think they were rich, but to me, my family and neighbours they looked to be rich. Many of them probably had the ability to learn it and they came back with a level of Irish that none of us could ever attain. I wonder what Ms Ní Ghallchóir thinks can be done to make sure everyone can potentially go to the Gaeltacht. For many, that is the only way the language can be learned.

I discovered this when I went to Spain. I had never spoken Spanish in my life, but after six months there, I could pick up the telephone, order a taxi and tell the driver where to meet me. I was able to go into every shop and order absolutely everything in Spanish. After 13 years of Irish classes, with no opportunity to engage in immersion, only two of the 30 students in my leaving certificate class understood what the words "ní thuigim" meant. That has to change and I wonder what Ms Ní Ghallchóir can do to change it. I know she is genuine and was delighted that it was difficult for her to find the English word for something. It was refreshing to see this. What does she think can be done to help people like me whose intelligence does not match the way Irish is taught?