Sir, - Tom Higgins's argument regarding choice about learning the Irish language is logical. The language is a cultural issue, but by now it is clear that both the education system and society have not succeeded in creating a bilingual nation.
The objective of learning the Irish language should be to encourage and facilitate the study of our Celtic culture and heritage. It should not be used as a cultural bribe to obtain education certificates. Our young people ought to be given the opportunity to study the languages that they and their parents consider to be of benefit to them for both academic and pragmatic reasons.
Some of the recent changes in Irish society represent a catching-up process in standards and attitudes, so it is inevitable that Tom Higgins will evoke much reaction from the indignant, knee-jerking preservationists as well as those who take "being Irish" so seriously that they take the fun out of it. - Yours, etc.,
M.A. Walker, Bernadette Place, Wexford.
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