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Police vow to recruit more Irish speakers
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
More Irish-speaking PSNI officers are to be recruited for Londonderry, an historic meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board has been told.
During the meeting — which was held in Irish — Foyle PSNI Area Commander Chris Yates revealed there were currently 10 officers in the region with Irish-speaking skills and he vowed “we will be increasing that number” in answer to a question from the floor.
Responding to a follow-up question as to whether Irish will be a requirement for joining the PSNI in future, Assistant Chief Constable Judith Gillespie said: “Maybe desirable but not essential.”
It also emerged at the meeting last night in the City Hotel that a team of Gaelic-speaking PSNI officers are currently in training to deliver programmes in Irish schools.
However, ACC Gillespie said that she did not envisage the Irish word for police featuring on the side of PSNI vehicles.
Addressing the packed gathering at the hotel, she described the meeting as a “very important first step”.
“I think its important we learn to toddle before we run on this,” she said.
“I do think there are elements of this community that would not be entirely comfortable with what we are proposing and we want to ensure that by engaging one community we are not disengaging another.”
She said however that PSNI officers wearing pins indicating that they were Irish speakers was something that could be examined and was already being practiced by some members of the force.
She said that this could be extended to all multi-lingual officers.
Earlier, PSNI constables Una McVeigh and Paedar Heffron delivered presentations in Irish on the work of police, with some members of the audience using headphones to listen to a live translation of what was being said.
Constable Heffron said: “There is undoubtedly a challenge |before the PSNI to promote a |career or profession in the PSNI in a community where such a |possibility would have been impossible a few years ago.”
There was a heavy emphasis on recruitment throughout the meeting, with independent Policing Board member and language activist Gearoid O’hEara giving a breakdown of the PSNI’s make-up, showing that at present 26.58% of officers were Catholic compared to 8.3% in September 2001. One in five officers are female.
ACC Gillespie said: “It truly is a historic occasion. If anyone had told me when I joined this organisation in 1982 this would be happening I might not necessarily have believed them.”
The decision on whether future Policing Board meetings will be conducted in the Irish language will be taken at a later date, Debbie Donnelly, deputy chief executive of the Policing Board, said.
PSNI educational officer Dympna Thornton, who also gave a presentation in Irish said that there were 10 officers with a sufficient level of competency in Irish who were currently being trained up to go into schools and deliver the PSNI’s CASE programme, which is specifically designed for children.
She added that given most Irish-speaking schools were in the primary school sector, they have decided to target this area.
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Comments
27 Comments
This is a multi-cultual aspect of political influence your population unlike a lot of countries in the globe is declining which like a lot of post-christian societies populations are also declining. You will have to accept the Irish language because you will have many other languages that you will be in coming in contact with Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Polish, Latvian etc so it would only be potcally correct to involve a political strong but heartfelt weak languge like Irish you know even English could become a dead language in future years so why not focus on the real world the afterlife because everything you hold dear to your language, your religion, your ethnicity etc could be put into question so focus on the reality that you used to hold dear to in this country that is Jesus because that's all you might have in this world and definitely in the next ecumenism is the question also of theday.
Posted by Deise | 01.08.09, 22:09 GMT
This is a multi-cultual aspect of political influence your population unlike a lot of countries in the globe is declining which like a lot of post-christian societies populations are also declining. You will have to accept the Irish language because you will have many other languages that you will be in coming in contact with Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Polish, Latvian etc so it would only be potcally correct to involve a political strong but heartfelt weak languge like Irish you know even English could become a dead language in future years so why not focus on the real world the afterlife because everything you hold dear to your language, your religion, your ethnicity etc could be put into question so focus on the reality that you used to hold dear to in this country that is Jesus because that's all you might have in this world and definitely in the next ecumenism is the question also of theday.
Posted by Deise | 01.08.09, 22:09 GMT
Emmerdale and Eastenders aren't relevant to me on a daily basis but the wife makes me watch them anyway. I guess anything would have relevance to anyone who would view it as so, Mickey.
You should hear what the wife has to say when I bang on about canon and the new Star Trek film.
Posted by Ulysses31 | 21.05.09, 16:25 GMT
Mickey
As a proud Irishman living in Ireland the expression of all cultural elements are essential to my day to day life.I (unlike you)am an educated man who thrives on culture (be it music, literature or linguistic expression) and strives to expand and share this knowledge on a daily basis. Frequent readers of this page will undoubtedly be aware that when it comes to cultural knowledge (indeed any knowledge that isn't founded on bitterness, polarised politics or religion) you are sadly lacking
Posted by mark | 21.05.09, 15:54 GMT
Hi nemesis...sorry mark. Disappointed you haven't remarked on my numerous other posts elsewhere. Hey-ho.
Tell me, how relevant is "the native language of this country" to you on a day-to-day basis?
This outta be good.
Posted by micke.y | 21.05.09, 14:04 GMT
Mickey
Now you've got your early morning fix of good ol fashioned sectarianism out of your system you might be ready for a wee lesson
1/ This has nothing to do with your favourite catholic/protestant rubbish so why bring it up?
2/ To refer to the native language of this country as 'utterly pointless' is both erroneous and highly offensive to Irish people....but sure that's the point of every post you spill on these pages isn't it?.......it's all a bit pathetic really
Posted by mark | 21.05.09, 13:07 GMT
They Gardai don't use it, so why should the Police Service of Northern Ireland?
I welcome more Catholics joining the PSNI (gives "oppressed" republicans less to girn about frankly), but can't help but feel as though certain prominent nationalists wish to hijack this as a platform to introduce an utterly pointless language.
Will the Gardai be introducing Ulster Scots down South to facilitate the miserly 0.007% of Protestants who have been granted entry to their force?
Posted by mickee | 21.05.09, 09:33 GMT
A message to Jay: can you tell the readers exactly what 'Ulster Scots' is. Is it a language, a dialect or a form of street slang ('bout ye like, aie am nay three bad', LOL). What is its origin and from which part of the world does it come?
Maybe Jay could respond in the said tongue/word.
Posted by Linguist | 20.05.09, 18:02 GMT
I never realised unionists in the North had such a problem with Irish. I have to say I'm a little perplexed. What harm does it do to you to have 10 PSNI officers trained to give presentations to kids in Irish Primary schools in their preferred language? Would it not help these young people identify better with the PSNI?
If you want to have more officers trained to give the presentations then of course you wll have to recruit more Irish speakers.
It really all boils to common sense!!!
Posted by Bren | 20.05.09, 17:36 GMT
Ireland, North as well as South is an island dominated by small-minded philistines, yobs with neither culture nor intellectual sensibilities...apart from your Buckfast and fast-buck cultures you have little else to define your vacuous existance....and just to think that Ireland was once known as the Island of Saints and Scholars ?!
Go dtí tigh an diabhal libh a scubaidí!
Posted by Bod Mór | 20.05.09, 17:10 GMT
first of all where is london Derry. the correct name is Derry and the Gaelic name is Doire not london Doire. Why does you newspaper insist on using this name for the maiden city?
Irish is a beautiful language and should be kept alive at all costs. a polish friend once said to me that we (the polish people) were invaded by many different countrie over the centries such as germans russians ets yet we kept our language. you irish were only invaded by the english and you loose your language...food
Posted by sean | 20.05.09, 16:35 GMT
Michael wise up. It's about as useful as learning latin - also dead! The 'hostility' that you call it is people with a bit of sense who know its pointless and a total waste of money. And that also goes for Ulster Scots and Welsh. By all means learn them as a hobby - but bringing a dead language into real life - and the police force at that - is laughable not to mention incredibly stupid.
Posted by Hopkins | 20.05.09, 16:10 GMT
As someone who grew up in the Gaeltacht and went to an Irish language medium school, this sickens me as a total waste of money. Look at all the money the south has wasted on trying to re-invigorate a dying language, why are we bothering?
Posted by Brian | 20.05.09, 16:08 GMT
Why?
Posted by P Crowson | 20.05.09, 15:54 GMT
why is there such hostility towards the irish language in the unionist community, honestly grow up! the fact that there is even nationalists in the psni is great for society in the north, and now they are promoting the irish language is a big step forward. I honestly think a large chunk of the unionist community would prefer to go back to the bad old days and have a predominantly protestant unionist police force, tabhair dom do lamh a cara
Posted by michael | 20.05.09, 15:31 GMT
How much is all this costing, what a load of nonsense. Ireland as a whole is an English speaking country. spend the money where it is really needed
Posted by Gerry | 20.05.09, 15:19 GMT
Well that's great, so will that mean the recruitment process at the moment being still 50/50, that if your a non Catholic but you have Irish as a second language your more or less selected for the next round!
Not being funny but 27% is not bad considering in the not too distant past Catholics who joined risked alot to be in the police from thier own communities, and in some cases they still do. Has the demographics of the 27% been broken down into the areas they are from?(Catholic or Republican)
Posted by D | 20.05.09, 15:04 GMT
Are there many Ulster Scots speakers in the garda!!
Posted by jay | 20.05.09, 14:58 GMT
Well done Niall, you proved it is irrelevant.
Do your self a favour and learn a working language
like French, Spanish German or Italian,
something that will be of benefit in your life.
Posted by Give Me Strength | 20.05.09, 14:12 GMT
As a retired New York City transit cop who occasionally spoke Gaeilge with
passengers while on duty in the underground trains, I want to give a Fáilte
Mhór (great welcome) to all Irish speakers who join the PSNI. And I regret that the Gardaí across the Border don't encourage more usage of their state's official language.
Posted by Seán MacCurtain | 20.05.09, 13:31 GMT
27 Comments