When the European Union expands to 25 members in May, and all under the watchful eye of the current Irish EU presidency, Maltese and Slovene will become two of the union’s latest official languages.
There are currently 11 official EU languages and that total will reach 20 on May 1.
But Irish will remain on the fringe of the union’s daily business, this despite the fact that it is the Republic’s official first tongue.
The fact that Irish is still lost before translation prompted Meehan, the national vice president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, to write Ahern a letter urging the Irish government to see to it that Irish becomes part of Europe’s combined lingua franca.
Meehan wrote Ahern that he was “disheartened and deeply disappointed” that the European Union had no plans to recognize Irish as one of its official languages and that the Irish government had not raised any objection to this.
Meehan is from Quincy, Mass., but his late wife was a native Irish speaker from Connemara.
“I took Irish on as challenge many years ago and grew to love it,” Meehan said.
Irish does in fact have a degree of official status in the EU. Treaties and conventions adopted by the EU are recorded in Irish, but the day-to-day workings of the union are not recorded in Gaelic.
That means no Irish language documents from the parliament or commission, no Irish translators or interpreters in Brussels, Strasbourg or Luxembourg.
“If you want to get a job in the EU, you must be able to speak at least two languages, English and another one,” Meehan said. “But fluency in English and Irish will not qualify you for a any job,” he said.
Ireland joined the then European Economic Community in 1973 along with Britain and Denmark.
English was an automatic choice for official status. Danish was not, but the Danes insisted and it was included. The Irish government, by contrast, did not push for official status and does not seem inclined to do so even now.
During a recent debate in the Irish Senate, or Seanad, as it is officially known, the Irish government’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Tom Kitt, said it would be unrealistic to expect concrete outcomes during the Irish EU presidency to boost the status of the Irish language within the EU and its institutions.
Kitt was speaking on an all-party motion in the Seanad that called on the government to use the EU presidency to secure official status for Irish.
The motion, which was passed, stated that the accession of new member states would result in a recognition of additional languages in the union and that the government should work toward having “the Irish language recognized as an official working language of the EU and its institutions.”
Kitt indicated that the government was content with the present status of Irish in the EU, one that he described as “quite unique.”
The government remained committed to monitoring developments with a view to availing of any appropriate opportunity which might arise to enhance the status of Irish in the EU, Kitt stated.
“Clearly it is not one of the 11 official and working languages of the institutions. On the other hand, the provision made for the publication of the treaties in an authentic Irish language version confers a particular Union status which sets Irish part from, for example, Luxembourgish, which has no Union status,” the Irish Times reported Kitt as saying.
Kitt pointed out that under new rules, EU officials seeking promotion were required to be competent in a third language, and Irish would be one of them.
“In this regard, Irish is the only language that is not an official and working language which will be taken into account,” he said.
All this is an unsatisfactory and piecemeal approach as far as Jack Meehan is concerned.
In his letter to Ahern, Meehan stated that the Irish government’s approach was apathetic and incongruous given the status of Irish in the Republic’s Constitution and the daily workings of the Irish state.
“We’re not saying that every EU document has to be in Irish, but only that they should be available if an Irish-speaking person wants to read them in Irish,” Meehan said.
In his letter to Ahern, Meehan told the taoiseach that the preamble to the AOH constitution required members to foster, promote and perpetuate the language and culture of the Irish people.
“On behalf of my National Board colleagues, may I respectfully request that your government would reassess your obligation to uphold the Constitution of Ireland and the wishes of the vast majority of Irish people who claim ties to Ireland and demand that An Gaeilge take its rightful place as an official language of the European Union,” Meehan wrote.
Meehan said he had received a reply from the taoiseach’s office stating that at some point he would receive a reply from Mr. Ahern.
“I don’t hold out much hope, but at least they know how we feel,” Meehan said.