What do these turf cutters really want? (2 Viewers)

[rettucs]

Some of the Gaeltacht areas are on the outskirts of Galway "City".

is that true?

 

[Psycho Punk]

is that true?

Would I lie?

GALWAY CITY GAELTACHT HAS LOWEST NUMBER OF IRISH SPEAKERS

October 4, 2007 - 5:31pm
The Gaeltacht area in Galway City has the lowest proportion of Irish speakers, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office

While the proportion was highest in County Waterford at 79 point 5 percent, just over half of people in the Galway Gaeltacht located in the city speak our native language

Overall there has been a drop of almost 2 percent in the number of Irish Speakers across the country since 2002
http://www.galwaynews.ie/1524-galway-city-gaeltacht-has-lowest-number-irish-speakers


The Galway Gaeltacht covers extensive parts of County Galway, mainly in the west of the County, and is the single largest and most populated Gaeltacht area in the country;
The Galway Gaeltacht has a population of 40,052 and represents 47 per cent of total Gaeltacht population. However, about 12,000 of this population reside within the expanding suburbs of Galway City;
The Galway Gaeltacht encompasses a geographical area of 1,225km2. This represents 26% of total Gaeltacht land area;
The largest settlement areas are An Spidéal and An Cheathrú Rua. An Cheathrú Rua is located 48 km west of Galway City, An Spidéal is located 19 km west of Galway City;
In 2011 there were 2,745 people employed in a full-time capacity in Údarás na Gaeltachta client companies in the Galway Gaeltacht.
http://www.udaras.ie/en/an-ghaeilge-an-ghaeltacht/an-ghaeltacht/gaillimh/

Map showing area of Galway Galegore Zombie infestayion.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Hold on a sec though, surely its the unfettered commuter sprawl of Galway that is the reason such measures were brought in. If a village of 300 is 90% Irish speaker then they build a 1000 new homes for commuters then the town is nominally in the Gaeltacht but is largely indistinguishable from any other suburb of the country. Anyway as I said before from talking to people I know from that Gaeltacht they're pissed off at the language restriction, it interferes with their ability to trade. No huge axe to grind on this but there's also the ability of anyone else from anywhere on Earth including a halting site in East Galway to learn Irish if they so choose. Seems you only need LC Irish to qualify. PS I've no doubt that some residents in those areas relish the fact that random strangers can't buy houses locally but I suspect that would be the wish of many people in many rural areas would that they had the choice.

 

[Psycho Punk]

Why should people have to learn a language to move into an area? You don't have to learn Catalan to move to Barcelona, not even Soanish or Basque to move to the Basque Lands. I wonder if the this regulation would survive an EU challenge.

How many even Irish people, born and bred, could bring themselves back up to LC level Irish years after leaving school?

 

[Deadmanposting]

Hold on a sec though, surely its the unfettered commuter sprawl of Galway that is the reason such measures were brought in. If a village of 300 is 90% Irish speaker then they build a 1000 new homes for commuters then the town is nominally in the Gaeltacht but is largely indistinguishable from any other suburb of the country. Anyway as I said before from talking to people I know from that Gaeltacht they're pissed off at the language restriction, it interferes with their ability to trade. No huge axe to grind on this but there's also the ability of anyone else from anywhere on Earth including a halting site in East Galway to learn Irish if they so choose. Seems you only need LC Irish to qualify. PS I've no doubt that some residents in those areas relish the fact that random strangers can't buy houses locally but I suspect that would be the wish of many people in many rural areas would that they had the choice.

Exactly, it's the sprawl of Galway affecting the rates. Probably the only Gaeltacht area near an urban centre.
Barring D4 of course.

And nothing stopping anyone learning the lingo. Like I said, if Des Bishop can do it...

 

[shower another shower]

Raithcairn, the Gaeltacht near me, here, offer Irish classes to the non Irish speaking residents, or anyone else that wants them. that said, all ye really need to know is, "pint a carlsberg mais e do thoil a."

 

[therealjohnny]

A mate of mine was teaching Irish to the Czechs in Prague.. but they were probably only looking for the grant from cigire na puntai

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Why should people have to learn a language to move into an area? You don't have to learn Catalan to move to Barcelona, not even Soanish or Basque to move to the Basque Lands. I wonder if the this regulation would survive an EU challenge.

How many even Irish people, born and bred, could bring themselves back up to LC level Irish years after leaving school?

Well ok, you're getting to the root of the matter, should language restrictions exist at all? This is different however to saying the restriction has been brought in for xenophobic/anti-traveller reasons. Also, the restriction is on buying a house in a gaeltacht, not moving into the area per se and the restriction is only for a window of 7 or 15 years and applies as far as I can see to the creation of housing estates, not one-off houses.

I'm not convinced it's a good idea to put Irish on a pedestal in the half-arsed way the government has done so since the '20s but if you're going to have a special status for Irish and promote its continuing existence as a living language then language restrictions on property are probably going to have to be part and parcel of that where there's pressure from anglophone commuter suburbanisation as there has been in Galway.

That's an interesting question on EU challenge, googling there seems to have been a challenge of sorts but that has as far as I can see led to amendments to the restrictions rather than their total removal. There are language restrictions on French radio which are a-ok because they aren't saying that a quota of acts played have to be of French origin but be in the French language. Theoretically nothing stopping Aslan rewriting the song as Monde Fou and trying to get radio play.

I don't know the answer to your final question, I can only tell you that I am getting to the point where I can speak Irish better now than I did at Leaving Cert. I can hold a conversation in Irish now, which I probably couldn't or at least wouldn't have done when I was 17. I somewhat regularly have conversations as gaeilge with friends and family, even a couple of other thumpeders. This hasn't been through any intensive study, I've just been reading Irish articles, learning new vocabulary and actually using what remains of the language in my head.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I was barely LC level in school, what little I have I fear is gone. I fear the day I get an email in Irish and have to respond in kind (university policy).

 

[Deadmanposting]

Some broad on Drivetime right now making absolute sense - i.e. agreeing with me that these turf cutters are environmental vandals.

 

[Deadmanposting]

Dr Catherine O'Connell of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council it was


And a looker to boot!

ETA - that's her in the middle

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

How did that bogey in the track-type top get in there?

 

[Space]

How did that bogey in the track-type top get in there?

Bogger.

 

[Deadmanposting]

How did that bogey in the track-type top get in there?

good point. fifth columnist culchie obviously

That's his Sunday gear.

 

[Psycho Punk]

Turf cutters song.

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Luke Kelly: Peat Bog Soldiers

 

[Squiggle]

Culchies are ruining this country.Between this insistence on the destruction of bogs and those fucking hideous mansions they insist on building everywhere that looks nice they're slowly but surely destroying the whole place.Tradition me hole.

The "fucking hideous mansions" appearing all over the countryside are mostly being built by fuckers from Dublin, who then go around trespassing, cutting down other people's trees, damaging and stealing crops, leaving gates open so animals get out and shooting without permission (putting people and livestock in danger and killing necessary wildlife).

Protected land is necessary if we're not going to destroy the country, but I can understand people finding it difficult to take being told that their family business and tradition is no longer permitted. There are a lot of people out there who would rather struggle to earn a living than be paid to do nothing - though it doesn't always seem like it.

Maybe if the Government changed its approach, made the poacher the gamekeeper so to speak. Instead of compensating them for not being able to cut the turf on their land pay them a salary for acting as conservators and protectors of the valuable natural resources they own.

 

[magicbastarder]

i would mind less if turf was actually a decent fuel, but it's not.
there should be more joined up thinking on this - instead of cash compensation, give the turf cutters much better insulation grants so they have less need to burn turf, that sort of thing.

there are plenty of examples of changes in regulation affecting people (e.g. taxi drivers); but they didn't get compensation.

squiggle - is crop stealing really a problem caused by dubliners who are down at their holiday homes?

 

[Squiggle]

squiggle - is crop stealing really a problem caused by dubliners who are down at their holiday homes?

Caused by, no, largely undertaken by, yes. And if they were just holiday homes it wouldn't be such a problem, but it's permanent migrants that cause the most trouble. They move down to the countryside because they can build a bigger (out of place) house, without any concept or understanding of country life. They see vegetables, fruit and other crops growing in fields and think nothing of helping themselves (and doing damage in the process).

One 'neighbour' of my parents systematically "hunted" and shot my fathers domestic ducks (egg laying). We initially thought it was a fox until we caught the bastard at it one day. And he wasn't even eating them, to add further insult to injury.

My Dad planted quite a bit of managed forestry (for environmental reasons and as a source of future income) and the same jerk family have been caught twice cutting down our young trees for firewood! We have to PAY for the saplings, and it costs money to plant them.

I think they'd be pretty unhappy if the local farmers decided that their hedge would be good for fence posts and cut it down in the middle of the night.

 

[magicbastarder]

i've heard the same about country people cutting trees too; i know a couple with an area of old growth forest - valuable more from an ecological and emotional point of view than a financial one, and the farmer on the neighbbouring land flailed something like fifteen feet into their land and came into their land to fell trees for firewood because they 'weren't doing anything with the wood' and were thus selfish.

in short, people can be assholes.

 

[Squiggle]

in short, people can be assholes.

Yep, I guess it depends on the area, all the farms around Dad's have been owned by the same families for generations so they know each other all their lives, meaning that it's only blow-ins that cause problems.