Irish is counter-productive in bid for a united Ireland and will divide the island even more

It is not necessary for power-sharing in any case and just a spanner in the works.

The language is rarely spoken in the Republic, but for some reason there are Irish language signs up everywhere.

Things are really beginning to spill over and one can see Irish being placed over the English.

In some cases Irish mixed in with English in what is supposed to be English.

And in other cases, just Irish on its own with the English done away with altogether. The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs actively discriminates against those who cannot speak or write Irish for employment positions.

It is stated on its application forms that while they “accept applicants who speak English, those with Irish language skills will be give preference”.

There has been a huge push to put Irish on every piece of the Republic’s government papers and documentation imaginable.

The problem no-one is that fussed about speaking it, only the fanatics and those with special or political interests.

To top it all: the Irish government insisted that Irish be an official language of the European Union — even though Irish officials do not speak it.

There was significant opposition from other members of the EU when they pointed this out.

But the Irish government pushed and push and got their way. Now they have a load of Irish interpreters on standby in Brussels and Strasbourg waiting for someone to speak Irish, which is extremely rare or non-existent.

Irish is a dead language and should not be resurrected for political purposes or any purpose.

Even those that claim to speak it are far from fluent. Because they speak it rarely, they have lost a great deal of dialect in the language and often need to mix in English to supplement their inability to speak it.

Yet, they want it here, there, and everywhere without any real functionality, other than special interests.

What an Irish language act would mean for the people in Northern Ireland in practicable terms is a gradual migration of Irish civil service staff to run positions in Northern Ireland and hollow out the Union.

The Irish language would be act as a code for an Irish administration which would become part of Northern Ireland though job discrimination and would tell English only speakers — ‘if you want to understand it or get a job, then go away and learn it’.

Unionism is on the side of right in saying no to the Irish language and the discrimination and extreme division it would bring about.

There would be language activists everywhere in taking down English signs and putting up Irish ones instead illegally, as they do in the Republic.

Phone books and state directories would have to be in Irish also, in addition to a litany of other public services such as busses, trains, hospitals, schools, courts, social protection such as welfare services, banks, post offices, libraries, to name a few.

Irish would represent a very big barrier indeed, especially in the area of recruitment — of that there can be little doubt as to the significance of forcing Irish down people’s throats as a matter of social inclusion/exclusion.

Many parents of students in the Republic have asked the Irish government to be exempt from Irish in primary national schools, as they feel it is a waste of their child’s time, when they could be putting their valuable energies into more important core subjects for admission into college.

We also have the advent of Irish only schools in the Republic.

The double standards are profound in this area. Irish is taught in ‘Irish-only schools’ in the Republic, but the Department of Education there insists that Irish is taught in schools where English is the language. But there is no such requirement to teach English in the Irish-only schools conversely.

If Sinn Féin want to be around Gaelic speaking part of the world, they need to go to the isle of Lewis in Scotland where the majority of the population speak it there and only there.

English is the language of Ireland.

Sinn Féin claim they want to unite Ireland.

It is illogical for them to think they stand a better chance with two languages than one.

Irish is counterproductive in forming a united Ireland and will divide it even more so.

Maurice Fitzgerald, Shanbally, Co Cork