In her letter (Write Back, March 5) Janet Muller talks about language rights
and, in particular, Irish language rights, seemingly oblivious to the fact
that she already has the right to speak and write in Irish if she wishes. No
one is going to stop her from so doing.
However, like many who babble on - in English - about their Irish language
rights, she isn't actually talking of a right at all. She's talking about an
obligation.
She doesn't just want to converse and speak in Irish, she wants to force an
obligation on the rest of us who don't care for Irish, to listen in Irish,
or at the very least cough up the necessary doubloons so she and others of
her ilk can enjoy having Irish street signs placed alongside English ones.
I'm not aware that Irish is a first language for a single human being in
this country, so the issue really should be moot. Regrettably, society is
still cursed by this kind of sectarian inanity. I only wish I had a right to
live in a society in which members didn't constantly try to force their
preferences on each other by acts of legislation.
I, and those of a similar mindset, can only hope that in the not too distant
future our day will come, or should I say: Tiocfaidh ár lá.
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