Madam - In his latest diatribe against Irish, Kevin Myers tells us that in some schools "50 per cent of pupils can't read or write" because "compulsory Irish language enables them to be illiterate in both English and Irish" (An Irishman's Diary, March 30th). So how come the schools with the highest rates of literacy, and with the best examination results, are those where more, not less, Irish is used - the gaelscoileanna?
Blaming Irish for illiteracy in English is absurd. Mr Myers undermines his own argument by telling us schools in "areas such as Foxrock and Sandycove. . .have 100 per cent literacy". Poverty and lack of investment in schools in disadvantaged areas are the fundamental causes of illiteracy. It has nothing to do with the Irish language.
On the issue of why so many people can't speak Irish after years of instruction, a schoolteacher friend recently informed me that this was due in no small part to many parents telling their children the language was of no value. This attitude is, of course, gleefully fostered by the likes of Mr Myers. Where parents encourage children (in any subject), they flourish.
Finally, I am somewhat amused that the sensitive Mr Myers is upset by what he describes as the "vicious, vitriolic, ad hominem abuse" in response to his arguments about Irish. Perhaps if he himself employed less aggressive and less offensive language, we might respond in kind. "Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap". - Yours, etc.,
LIAM CARSON, Director, IMRAM Irish Literature Festival, Arbour Hill, Dublin 7.