A chara, – Rather than continuing the unedifying spat on your pages between the pro- and anti-Gaeilge lobbies on the merits and demerits of the Irish language, may I suggest we defer to words of wisdom from our much-missed Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney: “Not to learn Irish is to miss the opportunity of understanding what life in this country has meant and could mean in a better future. It is to cut oneself off from ways of being at home. If we regard self-understanding, mutual understanding, imaginative enhancement, cultural diversity and a tolerant political atmosphere as desirable attainments, we should remember that a knowledge of the Irish language is an essential element in their realisation.” – Is mise,
CONALL Ó MÓRÁIN,
Louvain,
Cluain Sceach,
Baile Átha Claith 14.