I shouldn't have to spell this out – I have been aware of this for over 20 years – but generally immigration
to Ireland is good for the Irish language.
Not only do most immigrants to Ireland speak at least two languages – many of them speak more than
two and many of them have a much greater understanding of the position of minority languages and
cultural diversity from their original countries so they can I believe understand the position of the Irish
language in Ireland more and why some people believe strongly that we should preserve and try to grow
Gaeilge.
I do think that the growth in immigration in Ireland over the last few years is unsustainable and we should
be permitting a lot less new people into the country over the next few years so we can cope but I don't
make a false connection saying that immigration is not good for the Irish language and to the contrary I
think that most of the time it is the reverse.
If the Irish language in Ireland is not in a strong a place as ideal it is because the vast bulk of the native
Irish population have no strong committment to brush up on the language in a decent sense and speak it.
