Irish 1 - Ignorance 0

Nollaig Shona Duit

It's Christmas and the season of goodwill to all men/women. It is a time when people are supposed to forget their differences and just get on, even if it's fake and only until the New Year. Our two youngest go to a wonderful nursery in Butetown, where they are greeted every morning by posters welcoming them in dozens of languages ; with several of those languages being spoken by the children and their parents who use the nursery.

So how could anyone be offended by something as innocuous as a Christmas greeting, in a language that is actually spoken and originates from the very nation where it is displayed? You would have to be particularly twp and frankly ignorant don't you think, to describe such a greeting as 'gobbledegook' in such circumstances.

The above greeting translates as 'Happy Christmas' in Irish and is currently displayed outside Belfast City Hall. Before the black shirts of the Taxpayers Alliance start moaning about public money wasted, it was actually paid for by the West Belfast Language Centre. David Browne of the UUP who has described Irish as "gobbledygook" said the decision was "an act of bad faith".

"The Irish language or Ulster Scots, it's all gobbledygook to me. The more polite way is to say that I don't understand it," he said.

I realise that bigotry runs deep in the North of Ireland on both sides of the religious divide, but this is such a p.r. disaster for the Unionist cause. If this was in say French, Spanish or Chinese, do you think that Mr Browne would have the same sentiments? From my experience in politics, publicising your own ignorance is never a shrewd move. So my message to Mr Browne and all his ilk is: -

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

What is twp in Irish, or Ulster Scots for that matter?