Gremlin’s Fireside Chat

For the first time in 61 years, Ireland has won the grand-slam (Rugby) in a tightly fought match against Wales in Cardiff. At times I was at the edge of my seat, knuckle in my mouth as a  fumbled ball by the Irish, an attack by Wales. Wales played magnificently and were unlucky not to win. But today its Irelands day. What a great day it is to be Irish

Maeve enjoyed it too being resplendent in her newly bought Irish jersy.

I have to admit that I am not a fan of the Irish language. I think it has little or no relivance to Irish life or me as an Irishman. Irish should be left to liguist historians and “fans” of the language. The only reason Irish survives is because is because it is propped up by successive governments pandering to a small vociverous vocal minority that fundamentally believe Irish Gaelic is the core of what it means to be Irish. Poppycock I say. The function of language is to communicate meanings and idea’s and if a language is not good enough to stand on its own two feet without the crutch of massive funding from central Government, then it does not deserve to survive. After all most of the Irish Government business is conducted in English (listen to any Irish news program as proof), and most Irish people hate the way the Irish language was thrust down their throats at school. You rarely hear Irish spoken in the streets of Ireland these days unless you go to one of the expensive government funded enclaves on the west coast of Ireland. So why is Irish compulsary?

Anyway I heard two new words about an gaeilge (Irish language) today: Gaeilgerist/Gaeligerista – A militant or vociferous advocate of the Irish Language who fervently believe that English should never be spoken in this hallowed land, and preferably should be the only language spoken in the world.

On the way to the train station in Dun Laoighaire this evening I saw my first non-caucasian Gardai – an officer of Chinese heritage. Until recently Irish Garda officers (Police officers) are hulking giants of caucasian men and woman from some remote part of Ireland, its nice to know that our police force is becoming more representative of our diverse ethnic population.