Madam, - Garret FitzGerald, writing about the need for migrant workers to learn English, urges Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to set aside public funds to provide (free?) English classes to foreigners (Opinion & Analysis, September 29th).
I note that at no stage in a long article does Dr FitzGerald address how migrant workers are be introduced to Irish, the State's other official language. Does he believe that the Irish language has no relevance to immigrants? And if so, will he agree with me that the current influx of speakers of 200 languages (Dr FitzGerald's statistic), almost none of whom has the slightest interest in Irish, spells a death sentence for our already weakened ancient language? - Is mise,
Dr DAVID BARNWELL, Roinn na Spáinnise, Ollscoil na hÉireann, Má Nuad, Co Chill Dara.