Less Than A Pearl In A Sea Of Stars

juniourr:

Interesting video about the use of the Irish language in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It highlights how Belfast has a divided community, and how Gaeilge is sometimes used as a political tool. 

One of the men interviewed on the Shankill Road makes a valid point; it’s part of us, it’s our history. Yet people are afraid of the language… I’ve had discussions with people who’ve said they’d take their children out of [Protestant] schools if they started teaching Irish, because they don’t feel it should be taught. ‘We’re not Irish’, is majorly their reasoning. Yet they do not use this logic to stop the teaching of other foreign languages; I’ve a good command of French, but no one has issues with that. It isn’t really a great idea to speak Irish on the street in some areas, mine included.

It’s like people want to forget Irish was spoken here in Ulster… When we, as Northern Irish people, speak Irish, we’re not speaking a foreign language.