Hansard

I join other members in supporting the motion and its sentiment. I thank Angus MacDonald for securing the debate and giving us the opportunity to discuss Gaelic. The collective efforts to ensure the preservation of Gaelic appear to be bearing fruit but, as we will all agree, there is still much more to do.

Like other members who are present, I remember the passing of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005. I remember John Farquhar Munro and Alasdair Morrison. I do not know whether I am speaking out of turn, but I always felt that, for the two of them, English seemed to be a second language. They were very familiar with Gaelic, as they had been brought up as native Gaelic speakers.

As with Lewis Macdonald and Angus MacDonald, my mother was brought up with English as her second language, as she was brought up in Ranafast and Dungloe in Donegal, an area with which Willie Coffey is familiar. Therefore, I am the first on my mother’s side of the family to speak English as a first language. They never called it “the Gaelic”; they did not call it “the Gay-lic”—it was indeed “Irish”. They spoke, and they still speak, Irish or English.

I welcome the considerable improvements towards reversing the decline of the Gaelic language, as well as the economic benefits of the culture, on which so much was said by Angus MacDonald in his opening statement and which Highlands and Islands Enterprise also found. It is worth putting on record that it is also Bórd na Gàidhlig’s 10th anniversary as the body responsible for the promotion of the Gaelic culture and language.

Gaelic is an integral part of the history and traditions of the Highlands and Islands but also of those across Scotland. The Scottish social attitudes survey 2012 found that 76 per cent of those surveyed viewed Gaelic as important to our heritage and culture and 81 per cent wished there to be at least as many Gaelic speakers as there are now in 50 years’ time. However, only 45 per cent expected that to be the case, so the improvements in Gaelic education and promotion must continue to help confound that fairly pessimistic prediction.

I think that we can all claim success. Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP contributed, but the Conservatives also contributed to Gaelic culture and language during the 1990s, and they established the first Gaelic-medium unit in a school in Lewis in 1986. In fact, the precursor to BBC Alba—the Gaelic television fund—was established by the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1990 and expanded further in 1996 to include radio broadcasting. We can all take a bit of credit, but we can also say that there is still much more to do.

One of the success stories in Scottish education over the past 30 years has been the expansion of Gaelic education, with the number of children in Gaelic-medium education rising from 24, with the establishment of the Gaelic-medium unit at Breasclete school in 1986, to more than 3,500 last year. Since the beginning of the national Gaelic language plan, we have seen the number of those pupils rise by nearly a quarter, and the number of Gaelic-learner classes has risen by 12 per cent since 2001.

In finishing, I do not mean to be party political, but I think that it has to be mentioned that the 2011 Scottish National Party manifesto stated the intention to examine

“how we can introduce an entitlement to Gaelic medium education”.

Fair dos—that is exactly what it said. As a member of the Education and Culture Committee, I think that it is worth noting that the Education (Scotland) Bill does not give an entitlement to Gaelic education but gives education authorities a fairly lukewarm duty

“to assess the need for Gaelic medium education”

following a parental request and a further duty to actively promote and support Gaelic-medium education. Therefore it falls well short of an entitlement.

That said, I very much welcome the progress, I welcome the debate and I hope for another successful 10 years.

Deicheamh co-latha-breith sona—I think that that is “Happy 10th birthday”.