Meeting of the Parliament 09 June 2015
I too congratulate Angus MacDonald on bringing this important debate to the chamber. I am sorry that I am unable to speak in one of Scotland’s other languages in this debate.
Surely there can be little doubt of the value of the Gaelic language, given the number of economic, cultural and any number of other consultations that have been carried out in recent decades, perhaps culminating 10 years ago, we might have hoped, in the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005.
All that has been achieved across all the political parties and none. Those lobbying for recognition and promotion of the language have done well in achieving that.
It seems to me now that we do not need more Gaelic language plans or consultations, more evidence or further justification for language development. We now need to promote the worth of the language, as people are establishing here tonight, and the opportunities that it provides. Those could be opportunities, as Angus MacDonald has highlighted, in the new Gaelic economy. It could be opportunities in preschool and primary education for both children and teachers.
When learning a language such as French in school, children are not taught on a word-for-word basis but, instead, learn about the country, its people, its history, its geography, its food, its industry, its produce and its culture. So it is with Gaelic. Many of the children who attend school in the Highlands and Islands, the region that I represent, come from across the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. They are putting down roots and are learning much more than just the language. Although their granny might be in Manchester or Shetland, they are, through the indigenous language of the Gàidhealtachd, confidently establishing their roots in the local community.
In times past, parents would speak in Gaelic when they did not want their children to know what they were talking about. That is reversed in many households across the Highlands and Islands today, with children speaking in Gaelic when they do not want their parents to know what they are talking about.
I have to mention the lobby against the investment in Gaelic, whether those efforts concern education or road signs. I believe that it is incumbent on all members of this place to challenge that opposition and to make the positive case that has evolved since the introduction of the 2005 act.
Now that we are where we are, I also call on the Gaelic-speaking community to show its support for Scotland’s other languages. The chamber was recently united in welcoming Scotland’s culturally diverse communities. I think that we have to show the same commitment to recognising how culturally diverse Scotland herself is and to highlighting the wealth of Scottish languages, such as Lallans and Doric. They are called dialects, but I would argue with anyone who says that that is what they are. Anyone who speaks in strong Doric or Shetlandic certainly appears to have a language of their own, and we must celebrate that.
I have sympathy with Angus MacDonald’s as-yet unfulfilled ambition to become fluent in the Gaelic language. I have promised myself on several occasions to do the same.
Mary Scanlon has highlighted the difference between the SNP manifesto and the current policy. In 2011, I stood on a manifesto that said that the SNP would support the expansion of Gaelic-medium education “where reasonable demand exists”. Further, the 2007 manifesto said:
“We will guarantee in law the right to a Gaelic-medium education”.
There might be practical reasons for that change, but I ask the minister and the Scottish Government to review the situation and continue to show that Scotland needs to recognise the worth of the Gaelic language, for all of the reasons that have been stated.
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