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Policing board holds first meeting in Irish
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Northern Ireland's first Policing Board meeting to be held completely in Irish will take place tonight in Londonderry.
It is the first of four such meetings that will be held across the province and comes in response to a number of requests made at the last public meeting held in the North West.
The meeting — at the City Hotel at 7.30pm — will see an invited audience of Irish speakers quiz Assistant Chief Constable Judith Gillespie and Policing Board members on current and future policing issues and the procedures the PSNI have put in place to help make policing more accessible to the Irish-speaking community.
The meeting has been welcomed by Foyle MLA Martina Anderson, who has called it a "significant step forward in terms of the equality agenda".
The Sinn Fein MLA has said that the first meeting of the Policing Board to be conducted through Irish is a historic step forward in terms of equality for the Irish language community.
Ms Anderson said: “The Policing Board will hold a special meeting in the City Hotel tomorrow night at 7.30pm which will be held entirely through the medium of Irish.”
“This is significant step forward in terms of the equality agenda and recognition of the needs of the Irish language community and needs to be welcomed.
“The meeting will be the first of four meetings held across the North where the business will be conducted in Irish.
“The Irish language community needs to be recognised by all statutory agencies and treated as equals and this meeting is recognition by the Policing Board of that right.
“This series of meetings is part of the programme of outreach by the PSNI to the Irish language community for a better understanding and relationship with that community. Translation services will be available for people who want to raise issues so people should come along and participate in this historic occasion.”
Gearoid O hEara, who is chairing the meeting and is an independent board member, said: “I am very happy with the policing response to this issue and I am confident they are taking it seriously. The fact they are going to come and engage with the Irish language community through the medium of their own language is a very good start."
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Another way of looking at this is that Wales has 4 police forces all of which will have a Welsh language requirement along the lines discussed here - including bi-lingual staff. There has to be some balance here and the cost of using minority but native languages in official business is outweighed by the cost of not using them.
This argument was resolved years ago in Wales (to the extent that Welsh is a qualifying language for British Citizenship) why does it still drag on in Northern Ireland?
Posted by Better Value not Bitter Jibes | 19.05.09, 21:17 GMT
interesting...
What about the equality for the ones who wish to read Martina's profile in Gaeilge? Unfortunately no equal treatment there as the website is in English.
Equality is more than a language. Maybe those people should focus on more serious equality issues rather than wasting tax payers money.
Posted by Bi-Linguist | 19.05.09, 20:58 GMT
with the greatest of respect Irish is purely a hobby language. If the 'host nation' doesnt speak it in any meaningful sense then it is rather pointless. Learning a second language when young is easier and is proven to assist children in other aspects of their development. I would say it is rather selfish parents who make their kids learn it when they could be improving their lives by learning a second, more useful for their future, language.
Posted by soarer | 19.05.09, 18:56 GMT
Gotta agree with the linguist. I'd rather visit Munich for Oktoberfest than Gweedore anytime.
I found the Germans command of English to be very good and their hospitality to a large group of Irish tourists was beyond reproach even though we were managing to go through vast amounts of locally made beer in a very vocal manner!!!!
Dublin should twin with Munich and we can set up the Oktoberfest tents in Phoenix Park for the last two weeks in August!!!!!
Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest, Ole, Ole, Ole!
Posted by Bren | 19.05.09, 17:51 GMT
In the name of the fada.
Are there any policing board members whose first language isn't english?
Is there anyone in Northern Ireland (or the Irish Republic for that matter) whose first language is irish?
If being practical is being bitter, then guilty as charged!
Posted by Jeff | 19.05.09, 17:05 GMT
Are there any Polish or Portuguese policing board members Jeff? If there are then yes there should be the option of translations into these languages. You wouldn't be rubbishing the Irish language out of a bitter agenda would you now? It is Ireland after all and if people are more than happy to hold this meeting this way what concern is it of yours?
Posted by In the Name of The Fada | 19.05.09, 15:11 GMT
Did a bit of Irish at School, Complete waste of time:
Taught myself German, it was difficult,
however it has allowed me to work in Munich,
Great experience.
Posted by Linguist | 19.05.09, 14:56 GMT
Did a bit of Irish at School, Complete waste of time:
Taught myself German, it was difficult,
however it has allowed me to work in Munich,
Great experience.
Posted by Linguist | 19.05.09, 14:56 GMT
What a lot of politically correct nonsence masquerading as equality. So a meeting of the Policing Board is to be held in Irish when everyone present can speak English. This is a waste of tax payers money in interpretors. At a time when frugality is the watch word in public services and the MP expenses scam stroking the public purse this surely is pandering.
What next, Policing Board meetings in Polish, Lithuanian, Urdu, Chinese and (God forbid) Ulster-Scots.
Madness.
Posted by Thos | 19.05.09, 14:29 GMT
How does conducting discussions in a language understood by only a small number of people (as generally their 2nd language)in one community address the 'equality agenda'? Am I missing something?
Posted by gary | 19.05.09, 14:09 GMT
Why oh why is this happening. The business of the policing board is serious, why do Irish speakers force a meeting to be held entirely in a language spoken fluently by only a small percentage of the population. This is discriminatory against all the non-Irish speaking populace.
Who picks up the tab for translation clerks etc that will are required to appease somebody's whim, the taxpayer, I bet.
Totally unnecessary!!
Posted by Norm | 19.05.09, 13:20 GMT
It may be a waste of money on a practical level, it may not be a sustainable way of conducting meetings for policing boards or any public bodies, but I suppose it is a genuine gesture of goodwill towards Irish speakers.
Irish may be a dead language on a practical day to day level (or at the very least on a state funded life support system), but it survives as an academic and cultural language.
A nice, if expensive gesture.
Posted by OldSod | 19.05.09, 12:44 GMT
What nonsense, is this additional cost when the Irish Government are withdrawing their half of funding for an all Ireland Autism centre. Where our or priorities? This type of politically activated equality serves no one well. How many of the audience there tonight will be able speak only irish?
Posted by Mark | 19.05.09, 12:28 GMT
What a total load of nonsense, and a complete waste of resources.
If they policing boards want to do something useful in another language, they would be better served holding meetings in polish and portuguese!
Posted by Jeff | 19.05.09, 12:28 GMT