COMHAR

COMHAR mór-eagrán na Nollag 2017
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I went to yet another launch in the RIA on 11 December last.

Part of my interest was in the launch of the bumper Christmas issue of COMHAR. It is hard to describe this publication and the contribution it has made to life and literature since its foundation but its Wikipedia entry gives an idea of what it is about:

Comhar has as its stated aims to be a journal of first choice for writers, scholars, critics and readers of Irish, to publish the best of new writing in Irish, to be a high-quality forum for analysis and discussion of current affairs, to provide intellectual stimulation and be a platform for debate.

It was founded in 1942, and has published work by some of the most notable writers in Irish, including Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi and Brendan Behan.

I have been twice published myself in its hallowed pages.

My first contribution in 1974 had the byline "by our political correspondent". That was me, but I was working in the Department of Finance at the time and did not think it appropriate to have my name appearing under a political article however innocuous. Among other things the article pointed out that the then current use of the SWINGOMETER for analysing interparty swings in UK elections was not suited to analysing the Welsh returns. At UK level the display showed swings between tories and labour whereas the real swing within Wales was between labour on the one hand and Plaid Cymru (the Welsh nationalist party) and the Liberals on the other.

My second contribution was in 2001 when I reported on some significant features of the Welsh National Eisteddfod of that year. It was at this Eisteddfod that the coveted Bardic Chair was first won by a woman and the festival generally had many features which could profitably have been taken up by the Irish language movement.

Also being launched that evening was the book Leathbháideoirí by Marie Whelton. I doubt if I'll get round to reading this as I have a pile of unread books a mile high at home.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

In the interest of transparency, however, I should probably reveal the covert purpose of my attendance. The publications were being launched by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the evenings proceedings would be in Irish. I was curious about his level of competence in the language.

After all, his predecessor, Enda Kenny, was renowned for his fluency in the language, though as I have pointed out, his grammar was not always up to scratch. Enda, it will be remembered, appointed a Minister for the Gaeltacht and the Irish language whose command of it was at best ropey at the time. Leo has appointed a Minister for Culture (including the language) whose Irish is ropey and who does not intend to do anything about it.

So what is Leo's Irish like? Well, to give him his due, it is fluent. The grammar could do with some polishing, though not having spoken to him myself, I'm not sure where to draw a line between his script and his oral performance. However, he seems enthusiastic, is unashamedly learning, and is committing himself to use Irish at every available opportunity. He won't save the language but may acquit himself well on this score.

In this summing up I think I am on the same wavelength as Breandán Delap who has written the following in this year's COMHAR:

"Tá smeadar Gaeilge ag Leo Vardkar agus bíonn sé toilteanach í a labhairt leis na meáin cé go bhfuil sé briotach go maith go fóill"
Comhar Márta 2017 lth8/9

"Bhí an Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, i measc 70 duine ar bronnadh teastais sa Ghaeilge Ghairmiúil orthu ag searmanas i dTeach an Ard-Mhéara i mBaile Átha Cliath i mí Meán Fómhhair. Cúrsa deich seachtaine de chuid Gaelchultúr a bhí i gceist."
Comhar Nollaig 2017 lth 18

Marie Whelton & Leo Varadkar

While I was there I spotted Aodh Ó Domhnaill on the cover of the March issue and my acuity earned me a free copy. I have reported elsewhere on the content relating to Aisteoirí Bulfin in this issue.

The Leaba

Gerry Adams
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I am getting totally pissed off with the token use of bastard Irish.

As this is an equal opportunities blog, I should mention previous criticism of both FG an FF in an earlier post, just in case anyone should think I'm having a pop at Gerry Adams and him alone. I have also taken various bodies (eg) to task over their appalling use of the language in the past.

But Gerry Adams gives it an almost daily trashing in his tweets and this is coming from someone who purports to hold the language dear and have its compulsory use enshrined in Northern Ireland legislation. I needn't point out that pushing the language in the North is even more fraught than promoting it in the South. This is particularly the case when the language is being politicised and used as a silver bullet in the (decommissioned?) armed struggle for Irish unity. Nelson McCausland can testify more eloquently than I in this regard.

I have included a few of Gerry's recent tweets below to illustrate my point. Correct versions of booboos are shown in italics below the tweets.

oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé, beannachtaí

Daidí na Nollag, sásta

an spéir, an ghrian, ar fad

an ghaoith láidir, an ghrian gheal

sámh

oíche, bonne nuit

Now I know the Taoiseach has stated that the next election will effectively be a choice between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, and his Minister for Foreign Affairs has endorsed this most forcefully in a very gender specific and possibly personally offensive way.

I really am surprised, however, that the Taoiseach, who is reputed to be a fluent Irish speaker, seems to be descending to the level of Gerry Adams's Irish in the current phoney election campaign.

Reproduced below is his entry in the Charlie Hebdo book of condolence at the French embassy.

At least he got his French right, unlike Gerry in the last of the tweets above.

muintir na hÉireann, as ucht na tragóide uafásaí

All this garbage Irish reminds me forcibly of George Orwell's NEWSPEAK in 1984. The purpose of that restricted version of the English language was to limit people's ability to think outside a very restrictive and politically correct range of concepts. Current English usage, not only in social media, but in the mainstream media, is already sadly well along this road.

The current use of Irish in many quarters is simply a bad and clumsy transliteration of English. It strips the language of its richness and historical resonances and limits its net contribution to alternative and challenging viewpoints.

If the Irish language is not going to be taken seriously and treated with respect it should just be abandoned to the dustbin of history.

And the title of this post?

Well, the leaba is where Gerry tells us he ends up every night and it is one word in Irish that he always spells correctly.

Judging W T

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The Royal Irish Academy published the latest book in their "Judging ..." series last evening. This is Michael Laffan's "Judging W T Cosgrave". I haven't yet read the book but if the speakers are to be believed it is not one to be missed.

Michael Laffan, Liam Cosgrave, Enda Kenny

WT Cosgrave was the first "Taoiseach" (President of the Executive Council) and he was in office from 1922 to 1932 at the head of the pro-Treaty Cumann na nGaedheal government.

He was not himself at the launch, as he died in 1965, but we had one current and two former Taoisigh present. WT's son Liam, now 94 and a former Taoiseach himself, gave a touching and illuminating speech about his father. Current Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, also spoke, more eloquently than usual, and formally launched the book. And the author, Michael Laffan, gave us some background and praised Liam for his cooperation in the writing of the book, though he said Liam might not like some of what he wrote. Former Taoiseach, John Bruton, was also present in the body of the audience.

Dolores and myself
Photo: Johnny Bambury

I have to come clean and admit that I was not really there for the book launch as such. I had learned that Dolores Brewster (m. Scott) and her daughter, Lynne Pentlow, had been invited and were flying in from Bristol to attend.

Dolores is the daughter of Gordon Brewster, the artist who was chief cartoonist and subsequently Art Editor in Independent Newspapers, including during WT's period as "Taoiseach". During those years he took at least 21 pokes at WT in his cartoons. Michael has included five of Brewster's cartoons in his book and these are set out below.

See cartoon in NLI collection
Thanks to National Library of Ireland

This one has WT painting a "selfie" showing himself as the "knight in shining armour" slaying the dragon of foreign competition with the Sword of Tariff, all to protect native Irish industry.

See cartoon in NLI collection
Thanks to National Library of Ireland

This one takes a poke at Finance Minister, Ernest Blythe's taking the shilling off the old age pension in 1924, reminding us that, at the same time, the politicians were coining it at the taxpayer's expense.

See cartoon in NLI collection
Thanks to National Library of Ireland

This one is sort of dynamite. It was published on 28 May 1927 and shows public opinion advising the Justice Minister, Kevin O'Higgins, to stop raking up past bitterness. He was assassinated just six weeks later.

See cartoon in NLI collection
Thanks to National Library of Ireland

WT Cosgrave's St. Patrick's day broadcast in 1931 to some 40,000,000 Americans.

See cartoon in NLI collection
Thanks to National Library of Ireland

The censorious state, which was around in Brewster's time, continued into my own youth.


Today's Irish Times carries a report on the occasion with extracts from the speeches.

Michael Laffan talks to Seán O'Rourke this morning on RTÉ radio 1.

I will be giving a talk in the National Library of Ireland on the library's collection of the Brewster cartoons at 1.05pm on 17th November 2014. All welcome.

Update: review by Felix M. Larkin in Irish Catholic.

Tá sé fear

Joe McHugh TD

Is this the nail in the coffin of the Irish language, or just a statement of the obvious, or both?

The Government has now appointed a junior minister, Joe McHugh, with responsibility for the Irish language, whose Irish is not up to scratch.

The Taoiseach tells us that Joe's first priority is a "refresher" course in Irish but it is not clear how much will be refreshment and how much new learning. He must, at least, have school Irish, which is a sort of a block to build on. But one would have expected him to be beyond the refreshment stage by now as he was already Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Gaeltacht Affairs between 2002 and 2007.

He lives in Carrigart, which is described in Wikipedia as a Gaeltacht village, and it does seem to be part of the official Gaeltacht, though Scoil Eoin Baiste is described as "ar imeall na Gaeltachta". In any event a significant proportion of the area represented by Joe McHugh is Gaeltacht.

As the Taoiseach seemed unprepared for the onslaught that has now hit him, is it possible he was not aware of the Deputy's lack of fluent Irish, given that he was appointing him principally for geographical reasons (to counter Sinn Féin in Donegal)?

In any event it does not say much for the Government's, and in particular Fine Gael's, respect for, or interest in, the Irish language.

Needless to say, the opposition are in a steam and Éamon Ó Cuív was reported to be apoplectic. No shortage of baying hounds there.

Raidió na Life reported that the Government refused to supply a participant for their programme today, Beo@2, which covered the street protest and had contributions from Conradh na Gaeilge, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. The programme's being in Irish can't have helped and the Government could hardly have expected Dinny McGinley,who had just lost the job, to do the needful.

And Fianna Fáil needn't crow either. I remember when a crew from BBC Alba (TV) were in town doing a programme in Irish on the banking collapse, the best Fianna Fáil, then in Government, could do on the day was field Martin Mansergh who did his section in English.

You get an increasing smell of tokenism these days in almost everything to do with the Irish language. For example, Newstalk puts out little shorts in Irish where the reader (very obviously reading) seems to think the quality of Irish is gauged by the frequency of séimhiús and the amount of spittle going into them. His grammar (what's that?) is also atrocious.

The old argument for holding onto, or reviving Irish, was that it gave you access to much of your background which would otherwise be inaccessible and it represented a different way of looking at things.

The current pidgin Irish that I hear around me does nothing for anybody. It degrades any true Irish that might remain and is nothing more than a bad transliteration of the speaker's native English.

Go bhfóire Dia orainn.

EUbike

Now that the Irish EU Presidency is coming to an end, it is time to lift the veil on one of its most potent instruments of success, the EUbike.

You may have thought, in your innocence, that the Presidency logo was simply a pretty celtic picture for putting on notepaper and thick reports.

Not a bit of it. The "logo" was actually derived from the design of the Irish Presidential EUbike. This EU bike has many uses.

It is used for training chairpersons for the inevitable bumpy ride they will get at the negotiating table.

It is invaluable during the pre-Presidency tour of capitals, where the Taoiseach and other ministers ride from the airport into town, enabling them to identify with the people and at the same time draw attention to the then forthcoming Irish presidency.

Turned upside down (no, not that again) it can be used for winding wool for Aran sweaters which are expected to sell out, or dare I say it, be given away to unsuspecting foreign dignitaries, during the Presidency. Any leftovers can be disposed of under cover of The Gathering.

We really have a lot to thank Bertie for. It was his denigration of the undemocratic peann luaidhe that made us appreciate all the more our inheritance from our Victorian forebears. This comprised, in general, objects which were fixable rather than disposable and which relied on crude manpower (main d'oevre) rather than all this newfangled labour saving petrol/electricity driven stuff. It also turned out that this inheritance was eco-friendly and far healthier.

So thank you Bertie for the motivation.

As far as the technical design is concerned, the celtic pattern concept was originally intoduced into the 1996 Irish Presidency logo by Ruairi Quinn, at the beginning of the Celtic Tiger, and, while not quite as bumpy as the present logo, it still had its rise and fall. But that was then and this is now and things have got a lot bumpier along the way.

Grunt

The year was 1965, the month July.

I was showing a French girl round the town and was at a bit of a loss for where to bring her, me not being a tourist myself. After Nelson's Pillar I decided on the Dáil. It was our national parliament, after all, and would be sure to impress.

We ended up in the visitors gallery just as the Taoiseach, Seán Lemass, was on the receiving end of a blast from the chamber's prime orator of the day, James Dillon TD, former leader of Fine Gael, the main opposition party.

Mr. Dillon: I said I expect nothing from a pig but a grunt.

I was mortified. This was not quite the impressive dignified debate I had expected.

And to add to my mortification, the French girl asks "What did he say?"

I think I mumbled something about him not agreeing with the Taoiseach, and there and then swore never to bring anyone near the place ever again.

Dillon had been leader of Fine Gael up to the general election on 7 April 1965. In fact I had been at his last big rally outside the GPO two days before the election. That must have been where I formed my exalted opinion of his fine oratory and no doubt it had influenced me into putting the Dáil on my itinerary.

And in case you think I'm spoofing, that's me and my friend Tom in the detail above.

God be with the days.

Can't be Trusted

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I know why, a purely technical point. But it is a bit un-nerving when you are trying to get to the Government website and even your browser tells you they can't be trusted.

Reminds me of the time I tried to go to the Taoiseach's (Bertie) site in work on valid business and Websense wouldn't let me in on the grounds of the site's inappropriate sexual content. Again a technical point that could be explained.

Nevertheless, these things pull you up with a start. What was Bertie up to? Why can't the Government be trusted? And this coming from the dogs in the street, or more precisely the fox in your browser.

And me sitting here with me tongue in me cheek.

Stirring times.

.

Oops!

What have I done?
(See previous post)

Clicked on Taoiseach's Department at www.gov.ie.

Was told they had moved. So clicked on here.

And found they didn't exist anymore.

I suppose that's the Vatican gone too?

How in hell do you reverse this antimatter thing?

I should have left well enough alone. Or not?

Bertie's Office

I was approaching Government Buildings, in Dublin, from Fitzwilliam Lane, when it struck me that I was seeing an unusual but interesting view of the buildings. There they were, in the distance, vying with the rear end of some Georgian buildings and the renovated entrails of the "back lane". They looked less imposing but more at home.


Anyway, it was a change from the usual view presented to the tourists where the front arch towers over you and the main building is safely ensconced behind its massive railings and automatic gates.

The building took 18 years to complete, from 1904 to 1922. The engineering college occupied the central domed section from 1911 and the complex was conveniently completed in 1922, just in time for the new Executive of an independent Ireland and several new Government Departments to move in.

It was originally intended that the wings of the building would house the existing British Government Departments of Agriculture and Local Government. The figures below the urns hold scrolls to this effect.

The buildings are now occupied by the Taoiseach's (Prime Minister's) Department in the centre section, the Department of Finance in "South Block" - the left wing as you face the building - and the Attorney General's Office in "North Block" on the right.

The centre section was extensively renovated in 1989-90, after the UCD College of Engineering moved out of town to the Belfield campus. You can catch up on the full story here

Phone Tapping

I was directed to Matt Blaze's blog by Ockham's Razor's posting of Security Bingo, which is a hoot in itself.

There is a lot of unsecured stuff out there and people can be very naive. The web is a jungle and it is full of hostile creatures. You should not venture out without your sun protection and your beekeepers netting and all the relevant anti-viral injections.

But it was not Matt's general material on security that caught my eye but his recent involvement in evaluating California's electronic voting machines. He effectively found a load of incompetent rubbish that needed to be reinvented from scratch. Apparently the code was so riddled with holes that you didn't even need someone with malicious intent to subvert the process; it was already compromised. And add to that the whole distributed hardware system and you're into serious primeval chaos.

It remains to be seen how successful California (and the rest of the USA) will be in bringing this renegade system to heel. In this context it was very disturbing to see our own Taoiseach ashamed of the pencil and paper method which has served us so well in the past, and which has, at least, some semblance of transparency and traceability so sadly lacking in the sophisto e-versions.

I'm all in favour of using computers where they take the drudgery out of repetitive tasks, or enhance our lives generally, but I would stop far short of endorsing something as being superior to the old methods just because it was electronic.

But what provoked me do this post was this reference of Matt's:

"I was at a conference recently where everyone was asked to recall their first moment of thinking "I rule!" over some technology. It's a surprisingly revealing question; experience the exhilaration of hacker empowerment at a sufficiently impressionable age and you're hooked forever. A disproportionately large fraction of the answers seemed to involve telephony. (Mine was when I discovered you could dial a phone by flashing the hookswitch. I think I was too young to have anyone to call, though)."

Forget your crack cocaine and your heroin. This was the sort of high you got when I was young and it was all positive. Part of the learning process!

He refers to "flashing the hookswitch" - for us is was simply "tapping the phone". Don't forget this was in the days of pulse and not tone dialing. And you really needed some concentration to tap the zeros - ten fast uninterrupted evenly spaced taps, or you had to start the whole process all over again. And you could make international calls. And if you pressed button B you might even get the previous idiot's uncollected refund.

If this sort of stuff turns you on check out this page.