Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Even though I was taught Irish by a lovely brother, Brother Paul O'Dwyer from Tipperary, who had lovely Irish, I must say that when I was in school there was far too much emphasis on the past, present and future tenses instead of the spoken language. Perhaps the Government or some Minister will research the teaching of the Irish language to make people love speaking it. That would be a great thing for Mr. Ó Muircheartaigh personally. All the young women who came out of the Convent of Mercy schools in Roscommon spoke very good Irish, but very few of the lads who left the CBS spoke good Irish. We were taught Irish for an hour nearly every day of the week, but we were not spoken to about things like the weather. My appeal is for people to be taught ordinary phrases like "tá an aimsir go maith", "tá sé ag cur sneachta" and "tá mé ag dul abhaile" so that they can speak the language. I was not going to contribute to this debate because I am conscious of the factors I have mentioned. Senator Ned O'Sullivan has excellent Irish. I must say that Senator Mullen has lovely Irish. If we are to achieve something today, I would like it to be a renewed focus on spoken language in schools to make people love the language and get speaking it as well as they can.There should not be this kind of elitism. Senator O'Sullivan made the point that some people who are too fanatical about the language are elitist about it, but Mr. Ó Muircheartaigh embodies the real Irish language and the love of it. The fact that he is bilingual and so fluent in both languages is brilliant. I am just delighted to be here today. It is a great honour for the Seanad that Mr. Ó Muircheartaigh addressed us here today. I wish him continued success. He is a national figure and long may that continue.