PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE explains why opposing war is inseparable from defending jobs, wages and public services – and why readers should come to the London Peace Conference on Saturday June 20
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The housing crisis that threatens to finally destroy the Irish language
A government disinterested in making serious economic and social interventions for native speakers of the Irish language, coupled with a neoliberal housing policy, is killing off Ireland’s last Gaelic strongholds, writes MORGAN DE MOINBHIOL
Activists with the Banu campaign protest the lack of action for housing in the Gaeltacht, a major factor in erasing the heartlands of native Gaelic-speaking communities. Holiday homes, short-term rentals and Airbnb are now a major threat to the 2,500-year-old language
As protests erupt over Henry Nowak’s murder, ANDREW MURRAY argues that anger is being exploited to advance a wider racist and anti-immigration agenda
CARLOS MARTINEZ explains the sound case for car manufacturing co-operation with China
The National Emergency Briefing outlines the need for urgent action to address environmental crisis, says PAUL DONOVAN, warning that there’s no time to indulge the arguments of the fossil-fuel-funded climate-change deniers
Campaigners say criticism of Labour MP Stephen Morgan’s position on Gaza has been met with police intervention and cancelled opportunities for debate. HESTER WOLFE reports
The Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights warns of escalation danger in Iran war
WITH the release of the Irish-language biopic Kneecap, the nomination of Irish-language films at recent Oscars and more and more Irish celebrities using Irish, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Irish language was in an assured and popular place.
However, the material conditions of Ireland’s 20,000 daily speakers inside its designated language districts, the Gaeltacht, starkly contrast with a language in vogue. These sharply defined conditions felt by its native speakers (especially the youth) reaffirm the urgent point laid out in the Kneecap film’s final message: a minority language dies every 40 days on this planet.
After centuries of colonial subjection and 100 years of independence in 26 of its counties, Ireland’s once nationwide majority language is now reduced to scattered regions along its most westerly coasts.
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