Telefis Na Gaeilge:
Well it is nice to see that my recent article, concerning the waste of money that is Telefis na Gaeilge, got the typical reaction from the more insecure among us. I was, however, a little surprised to find that a whole page wa s dedicated to attacking me and particularly disappointed in the poor quality of those attacks. No real attempt was made to defend T.N.G. but both articles seemed to rely on attacks on me. I would have thought that given the fact that neither of the two individuals who wrote the articles actually know me that to launch into a poorly informed series of personal attacks and accusations was not a very advisable form of journalism.

Mr Adrian Godwin seems to be under the opinion that the whole Irish nation depends on the success of the Irish language. Adrian (I hope I can call you Adrian, since you decided to bring our relationship to such a personal leve l) displayed some of the worst qualities of insecurity associated with being Irish. In particular he displayed a sincere lack of self-confidence and belief in his national identity. He resorted to the age old Irish technique of relying on insults when y ou cannot formulate a decent argument. It would appear that after wiping his "arse" with my article he then decided to submit the result into An Focal. 

Our language is not our heritage, it is only part of our heritage. Being Irish involves a lot more than being able to speak the Irish language. I am intensely proud of being Irish and of my Irishness, but I do not believe tha t we need to waste millions of pounds on a foolhardy attempt to resurrect the Irish language (in fact as I write this article I am also watching Telefis na Gaeilge and have to wonder where the hell the money went). 

Irishness goes well beyond the stage Irish image which Adrian seems to believe in. Irishness is as much a frame of mind and a pride in your country and people as anything else. I have competed at the World Debating Champions hips and in other competitions against international competitors. I made no secret of my Irishness at these events and was intensely proud of representing not only this college but also Ireland. I also work with a multinational company which requires me to deal regularly with people from all over the world. It is through events like these I have gained a full sense of what it is to be Irish and have come to realise how great it is to be Irish. Everyone has a great respect for the Irish people and trad itions. In fact when I compare the Irish people to the other nationalities which I have come across I realise how lucky we are to live in Ireland and to be Irish. The English seem to be the most incompetent people God ever created, Americans the most pa ranoid, Germans the most arrogant and Japanese the most highly strung (and these are the nations that dominate the modern world ??????). 

It is only through close contact with other nationalities that you can gain full awareness and respect for your own nationality. I would encourage Adrian to get out of his little Galway cocoon and explore the rest of life. It may change his narrow perspective on life and give him the confidence in his Irishness to take a critical and objective look at it (and himself). Or perhaps he is afraid of what he may find there.

To turn away from the ramblings of Adrian and concentrate instead on equally ill-informed article written by Mr Joe Power. Joe accused me of being an "Irish Begrudger". Well in any other country this would be called being a c ritic of a policy that the person disagrees with. However people like Joe have decided that to voice a critical opinion is a uniquely Irish trait 

T na G is not, as Mr Power would like you to believe, the last chance to save the Irish language. The very same thing was said when Radio na Gaeltachta started to be broadcast throughout the country (if you didn't know that it was that is because most people now call it FM 3). It hasn't changed the state of the Irish Language and it certainly hasn't made it the spoken language of this nation. In fact I still stick firmly to my statement that Irish is "one of the most useless languages in the world". How I define useful or useless depends on the necessity to use the language. I have found no need to use Irish since the Leaving Cert., while I have used French (the other language I studied at the time) occasionally. In fact it is quite possible for someone to get by without any knowledge of Irish at all. That is why I classify Irish as "useless". Now let me make one thing clear. I don't like the fact that the Irish language has almost died out. I would love to be able to speak Irish on a regular daily basis but find no need to.

The real way to save the Irish language it to completely overhaul the language and start from scratch. Stop forcing it down the throats of people who don't want to learn it. Concentrate instead on building a strong foundation of people who love the language and know how to use it properly. If we have a strong core of people who love to use Irish then it will never die out. Once a strong foundation has been laid we can start promoting the language and encouraging people to s peak Irish more. If people choose to learn the language instead of having it forced on them once they reach the age of five we will end up with a slowly increasing group of people who can speak better Irish because it was their decision to learn it and i t means something to them. The current system only inspires resentment of the language and is therefore counter-productive. Restoring a language to its former glory is a painstaking business but it must be done slowly and carefully. 

There are no easy solutions and pouring badly needed resources into quick fix solutions like T na G is a waste of time and demonstrates a lack of long term vision. T na G is a financial black hole, but don't take my word for i t, read any of the independent financial evaluations done into the venture, all of which were rejected by first the F.F./Labour and then the F.G./D.L./Lab. coalitions (see it is not just Michael D. Higgins who is to blame, he's just the one that happens t o be in the way). I firmly believe that in 5 years T na G will have collapsed and the vast money pumped into it will have been wasted. 

Results of a Questionable Survey:
Flattered and all as I was to be listed as the 3rd "sexiest" man on campus I have to say that I find it hard to believe in the reliability of the data. With 10,000+ students over half of which are male I would say that top 3000 would probably be a more r ealistic placing (I hope). Also Sinead, Karen and myself (since we were obviously the only three people who were really known to the researchers of this article) would be grateful if the committee member/members of the Debating Union who actually wrote t he article would make themselves known, preferably in Private Members Time before a full session of the house. And I have to agree with Ed, you need to get out more.
Colm Flynn