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

I thank the witnesses for the presentation and I apologise for missing the beginning. The Irish language interests me but I also find it massively intimidating. One of the biggest problems is that a person can make an idiot of oneself when trying to speak it because there might not be much coherence. The word "náire", or embarrassment, comes to mind, and among my close friends, it is a major factor stopping them speaking Irish. There is no item in the room for which I would not know the Irish word, and I could give the Irish equivalent to any verb in English, and that level of knowledge would be the case for many people I know. Nevertheless, putting together the jigsaw is very difficult because of the abstract nature of learning the Irish language; if a person is not immersed in it, it becomes very difficult.

I have met many people through the years who have struggled with languages in school, particularly Irish, and they may have gone to Germany and Spain, where within four or five months they are almost fluent in the local language. The biggest challenge facing the Irish language is finding places where people can immerse themselves, and there is a massive opportunity in technology that could change the issue. There is a phone application called "Anseo", and it can be followed on Twitter and Facebook. It is a virtual Gaeltacht and one can find out where there are Irish-speaking individuals in the area by using the application. One can find out if these people are eight or nine miles away, ten miles away or 50 miles away. One can even see how many Irish speakers are in the area, and such information can be used to pull together people in a group. There are opportunities for immersion that have never been there before so are these being considered?

I made a suggestion at a meeting of the environment committee, which takes in Irish language, that there should be a day in which texts are sent only in Irish. Perhaps some of the phone providers could come on board. It is an area I have found that with a couple of friends we have developed and progressed. One friend is completely fluent in Irish and can speak and write old and middle Irish; he knows every form of Irish there has been, even that which does not look like modern Irish. We have sent texts to him and he has replied, with all the texts in Irish. A person is caught on the hop speaking Irish and does not know how to reply in many instances but in a text one can use a downloaded dictionary and use any fancy words that one can think of. One can be more articulate than one would ever be in English. For approximately two years I have been texting only in Irish with this person and a few others. It has been a big help so could this idea be considered?

I will take up Deputy Feighan's comments. When I heard Deputy Feighan was to become the Irish spokesperson for Fine Gael and the stick he was getting because he was not fluent, I thought of how this is one of the major problems.