Cath Focail a sheachaint maidir leis an nGaeilge

Bhí an litir seo scríofa sa Belfast Telegraph ar an 4ú lá de mhí Lúnasa.

Here we go again. Look, let's leave the age old political arguments aside. Why should we bother with the Irish language? Tourism, that's why.
We don't have any other industry worth talking about, nor will we, being situated on the outskirts of Europe, with other remote regions having jumped on the hi-tech bandwagon years ago, leaving the backward looking Northern Ireland politicians sitting on their clouds of self-indulgence.

From a linguistic point of view, the Irish language has a universal appeal, stemming from one of the earliest branches on the Indo-European language tree. In terms of education, a little knowledge of Irish helps explain a lot of the reasons behind, for example, the quirks in the Northern Ireland English dialect.

Come on, folks.How is this country ever going to move on if you old codgers stick your necks out repeatedly to whinge and moan? And yes, stick Ulster Scots on the agenda too. Let's celebrate our rich and varied heritage and, just as importantly, try to market it at tourists rather than turn it into some war of words.

JOHN LAVERTY London