Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

D'ardaigh mé an cheist sa Teach cúpla uair cheana i dtaobh ceist na Gaeilge agus an ról a ba cheart don Seanad a bheith ag imirt ó thaobh na ceiste seo. Phléamar An Staidéar Teangeolaíoch ar úsáid na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht, an cheist faoi thumoideachas sna scoileanna agus an cheist fá dtaobh de Foinse. Ach ó tháinig mise isteach sa Seanad ní raibh plé ar cheist na Gaeilge sa Seanad againn. Since my election, the issue of the Irish language has never been discussed in the Seanad. In that time we have seen huge challenges in the Gaeltacht, have spent €500,000 on a report that has never been discussed and whose recommendations in terms of the future of the Irish language have never been published and have had the issue of tumoideachas and how we teach Irish in the gaelscoileanna. We have had the closure of two Irish language newspapers, given the recent closure of Foinse.

No. 39, motion 26 has been placed on the Order of Business by Senator Joe O'Toole and I. It recognises that the first Dáil, held 90 years ago, was conducted completely in Irish and asks that the leaders of the groups in the Seanad would between themselves work out a system as to how we would promote the use of Irish in the Seanad. To have a day when we let all the gaelgóirí come to the House to discuss Irish issues or the Gaeltacht is not good enough. Caithfimid bheith dáirire - we need to be serious about the Irish language. We face a huge challenge. I know the economic crisis causes serious distress and hardship to many families but if we do not keep our eye on the ball and look at what is unique to Ireland, namely, our language, culture and heritage, we are at risk of losing all of that identity.

The Seanad, the Upper House, needs to use more Irish. We need to do this not by ramming it down anyone's throat but by coming up with a sensible proposal. No. 39, motion 26 proposes that we would agree between ourselves how we would set out that perhaps 10%, 20% or 30% of the work of the Seanad would be done through the medium of Irish.