Hansard

My great-great-grandfather was a Gaelic speaker, but I regret to say that he failed to pass it on. I am really sad that I do not speak Gaelic, but this immersion thing sounds very good. I have visions of sitting in a hot tub at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, looking down the Sound of Sleat and singing Gaelic songs. We cannot mention Sabhal Mòr Ostaig without paying tribute to Sir Iain Noble, who has devoted a great deal of his life to Gaelic, and without whom that wonderful college might never have existed.

As members have said, it is right and proper that Scotland's Government has a Gaelic language plan. I am pleased to say that our Parliament has a plan—the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body's very good plan. That sends out the message that we are serious about Gaelic and committed to its continued development in Scotland.

I am pleased that the council in my native Argyll and Bute is one of the organisations that are leading the way, by implementing its own Gaelic language plan, which Bòrd na Gàidhlig approved in June last year. When he launched the consultation on that plan, the council's leader Dick Walsh said:

"Historically, Argyll and Bute is the heartland of Scots Gaelic and … The Royal National Mod … was first held in Oban in 1892."

I welcome the council's commitment to host the Mod in Argyll and Bute every three years and I urge members to visit this year's Mod—in the year of homecoming—which will be held in Oban from 9 to 17 October. I do not know whether Sir Sean Connery will be there, but there is always a good chance of that. In any case, people will receive a wonderful welcome in Oban, which is the gateway to the Hebrides.

The Mod is one of the best examples of the vibrancy of our Gaelic sector. The number of talented young Gaelic singers and musicians is extremely encouraging. I declare an interest, as my wife, Emma, sings in the excellent Taynuilt Gaelic choir. I take the opportunity to wish that choir every success.

The music and poetry of the Gael mean so much. Two members have already mentioned Murdo Macfarlane—the Melbost bard. On his return from Canada, he said, "There are no ceilidhs on the prairies."

Recently, I spoke with another MacFarlane—Brigadier John MacFarlane—with whom listeners to Radio nan Gaidheal will be familiar because of his broadcasts with Donald Morrison. He told me that, as a native of Tobermory, where his family had long-established businesses in whisky and chandlery, he spoke nothing but Gaelic in his childhood and in the 1950s, when most conversations were about crofting, fishing, boating and local gossip. He says that the news and current affairs programmes on the Gaelic media now have greatly increased not only his but many others' vocabulary.

Brigadier MacFarlane also said that the Gaelic media have provoked great interest in Gaelic novels, films and poetry, and that the BBC iPlayer keeps Gaelic programmes for a week, which is useful for people who have missed a programme. He emphasised that the Gaelic of Radio nan Gaidheal is beamed to the diaspora in South Africa and Canada. He has even received fan letters from Gaelic speakers in Australia. On a more negative note, one can lose FM coverage in many places in the Highlands, so increasing the station's footprint would be important progress.

Brigadier MacFarlane expressed his dismay that BBC Alba is not available on Freeview. Many of my constituents in the Highlands and Islands do not want to pay hundreds of pounds to access the Gaelic channel on Sky. Given that Irish people can watch their Irish Gaelic channel free and that Wales can watch its Welsh channel, why cannot the Scots watch their Scots Gaelic channel on Freeview? That is unfair, and I appeal to others to lobby the BBC trust on the issue.

That subject was raised emphatically last night at the meeting of the cross-party group on Gaelic. Stress was placed on the importance of the media and on the difficulty in sourcing Gaelic teachers, which is key to encouraging the use of the Gaelic language in Scotland, as my friend Liz Smith eloquently and strongly pointed out. She made the key point that, although progress is being made on the number of children who learn Gaelic through Gaelic-medium education, we need to do more to ensure that they can develop their skills at secondary school. We look to ministers to address that. More must also be done to promote the speaking of Gaelic in our universities and further education colleges. Otherwise, the language will break down.

Ted Brocklebank spoke passionately about the role of broadcasting in sustaining and promoting Gaelic. I am proud of the Scottish Conservatives' record on that. In a speech in the first parliamentary session, the former Labour MSP for the Western Isles, Alasdair Morrison, effusively thanked the Conservatives for igniting the Gaelic revival by funding Gaelic media and education. In fact, that was the only time that I heard him being grateful or polite to the Conservatives—even Mrs Thatcher's name sounded all right in Gaelic. Alasdair Morrison was right. I am proud of previous Conservative ministers, such as Malcolm Rifkind and Michael Forsyth, who knew the value of the Gaelic heritage and wanted not to lose it but to encourage it.

Like many others, including Alasdair Allan, whose motion on the subject I was pleased to sign, I was very pleased to learn that the famous Dwelly's Gaelic dictionary is now available online—I shall certainly use it. I pay tribute to the site's creators, William Robertson and Michael Bauer, for their hard work. The dictionary, which has 77,989 entries, is by far the most comprehensive dictionary of the Gaelic language ever published. The pilot project was personally funded by its co-creators, and I understand that since it went live on the internet on 14 January there have been almost 60,000 searches. The dictionary has been designed so that it can be easily expanded and updated online, and the creators plan to appoint a team of editors to continue to expand, modernise and update the dictionary's content by adding new words, full information about word usage and grammar, and spoken examples of word usage. The dictionary is a valuable tool for Gaelic speakers and for those who wish to learn the language, and I commend it to all those who are interested in the language.

VisitScotland has a part to play. I sometimes visit the tourist office in Tyndrum and see on the wall the poems of Duncan Ban MacIntyre and the translations. As he came from the Dalmally area, there is a monument to him there. It is very good that those Gaelic poets are shown in their areas. Tyndrum tourist office has set an example that others would do well to follow.

We have talked about Gaelic signs. Is it all right for me to continue, Presiding Officer?