Chan eil e cho trang sa bha e ach seo beachdan eile a tha air tighinn a-steach dhaibh:
Mich
This has got to be the quickest back-pedalling ever, from Deirdre Mackay! What utter hypocrisy! Perhaps she realises that she has well and truly made a ridicule of herself. I do not believe she has utter respect for the Gaelic language or its culture. She spoke with utter disrespect and pure contempt for it last week.
28/01/2010, 18:06:50
– Like – Reply
Albert
Is it now time the councillor resigned both from Highland Council and her part-time post?
28/01/2010, 19:40:00
– Like – Reply
Maryann Murchison
Thank you editor for publishing the responses to last week's front page.
We will always get anti-Gaelic folk, some of who voice their opinion loudly given the soapbox and we have a huge percentage of easyozey Highlanders who just aren't bothered, some that like Gaelic and those who are deeply passionate about Gaelic and their heritage.
It is us passionate lot who are hurt by the anti-Gaelic comments of Councillor Mackay because it's like a stab in the heart. It is also misleading to readers (the easyozey ones) because they are led to believe that what their local councillor says must be true, surely she would know the facts and when this happens they don't usually see or hear the responses.
Arthur Cormack mentioned the huge sum proposed to build a new school at Milton of Leys and although I am not opposed to it feel that there is more chance of this becoming elitist as was the over-priced houses which were first built up there.
Milton of Leys has a name that folk associate with wealth and this will attract folk who will want their wee ones to go to school there even if they don't live there.
Gaelic medium education is not elitist, it is open to all and it is only through demand that the transport is required where your local primary does not offer Gaelic medium education.
Le Taing.
5 days ago, 11:38:42
– Like – Reply
Liked by
Fin
Mairi
I have every faith that Arthur Cormack will be able to show councillor Mackay why, if Gaelic language and culture are to be respected and supported, the measures and policies that are now being put into place are necessary.
If she feels Highland Council's plans or spending policies are not sufficiently transparent, which is what seemed to be implied from your report last week, then she should indeed challenge that within the council, but saying that those who wish to have a Gaelic education, or even just those who wish to see the language and culture preserved, are in some way an elite, suggests a complete lack of understanding of what motivates people to support the language and Gaelic medium education in particular. So it's no wonder some of the comments have been rather scathing.
5 days ago, 13:29:57
– Like – Reply
Michael O'Reilly
I do agree with Deirdre Mackay, and the main point being that in this present financial climate, what should the council cut - essential services to the needy, services to make the roads safe, or a comparatively little-used language except amongst the relatively small group who speak it amongst themselves?
5 days ago, 14:42:12
– Like – Reply
a manson
Councillor Deirdre Mackay was only doing what all Labour councillors, MSP's and MP's are duty bound to do and that is to criticise the SNP Government at every opportunity regardless of the fact that it was Labour themselves who brought in the legislation in question. She probably thought no-one would know this. I hope the response she got reminds her that we are not all idiots who believe Labour lies.
5 days ago, 15:55:57
– Like – Reply
Robert
You have to laugh at Councillor Mackay's weak attempt at covering her tracks. Any chance of making the meeting between herself and Mr Cormack public so that we can all see the 'evidence' on which she is basing her ludicrous opinions? Where is her criticism on the sickening spending her party commits towards illegal wars and nuclear weapons?
5 days ago, 18:50:16
– Like – Reply
Mac
Sorry, but as someone born and brought up in central Sutherland - and a Gaelic speaker - I tend to agree with the councillor. In the Highland area there are many primary and secondary schools which require expansion or serious repairs, yet these are being put aside to spend more on expanding the Gaelic school and Inshes Primary in Inverness. As lots of schools have to use portacabins for their rising numbers I do not see why both these schools cannot do the same. We are all council tax payers and given the huge amount of money spent on changing all road signs to include Gaelic, also the cost of the new Gaelic primary and Inshes Primary (no expense spared there!) I for one can think of 100 other places I would prefer my council tax to go to - i.e. care for the elderly. The issue here is not whether Gaelic lives or dies, but just how much money is spent on it at the expense of other just as important services throughout the Highland Council area.
5 days ago, 19:38:52
– Like – Reply
Mich
I wonder how much money would be saved if all those politicians (and I mean at every level) stopped claiming "expenses", councils stopped spending over a hundred thousand pounds on mobile phones, cars were no longer at their disposal and they supplied their own food and drink when they have "working" lunches? The council is short of money, not because of spending a tiny proportion of it on Gaelic education, but because they are incompetent. The one and only thing I agree with Deirdre Mackay is that yes, we should all "question the manner and the way in which scarce public money is spent". Why is it scarce? Where do they spend it?
2 days ago, 19:16:10
– Like – Reply
Angus Òg
Come off it Councillor Mackay. Sensible debate on Gaelic would be a good thing. Your comments were nonsensical and bigoted.
Like your father who keeps talking about having "hundreds of letters" from his constituents who all seem to be against expenditure on Gaelic, where is the evidence of this "tremendous support" from the Isle of Lewis "itself"? What concerns are people voicing? Who are these people and what, exactly, are their concerns? Could they be based on the misinformation you have been peddling to Brora Community Council and, along with your father, in the corridors of Glenurquhart Road?
You are spreading misinformation and scaremongering to try and undermine Gaelic's status yet you claim to "have the utmost respect for the Gaelic language and culture".
Questioning the manner and the way in which scarce public money is spent is fine. Picking on Gaelic specifically like you and your father have done just makes you both out to be bigots. There is no other way to describe people where you have, as Arthur Cormack said in his excellent letter, on the one hand agreed to £7m on Gaelic, but question a mere £1m on Gaelic.
Sensible debate and questioning public expenditure are fine, but there are MUCH bigger fish to fry within the Highland Council than the miserly 0.25% it spends on Gaelic. Shouldn't you be more concerned about the £13-16m that went down the tubes, or up in the air, in the failed biomass project in Caithness? Why is that OK and not questioned, while a 13th of that is wrong when spent on Gaelic?
I think you've scored a significant own goal on this issue and I hope the debate continues. I hope the electorate of Edderton and East Sutherland remember this at the next council elections if you are still a member of the Labour Party. I'll make sure it's raised at every meeting I get to. You can be sure of that, Councillor Mackay!
4 days ago, 22:14:16
– Like – Reply
Liked by
Guest
David Gunn
Totally agree with Councillor Mackay. I'm not "anti-Gaelic" but spending millions in this economic climate on promoting a language that is spoken by so few people is ludicrous. More people speak Polish than Gaelic in the Highlands. The argument that we're somehow preserving our "unique culture" doesn't make logical sense. I would rather see more grit on the roads, saving lives, than money spent on an exercise that benefits an elitist few.
4 days ago, 23:17:13
– Like – Reply
Martin Orr
Well done Deirdre Mackay, you are a councillor who says what the silent majority have been thinking for ages. Spend our money on the majority not the minority.
3 days ago, 09:15:19
– Like – Reply
Leodhasach
Have any of you (those who agree with the councillor) actually read Arthur Cormack's comments? I'd also recommend you have a look at his letter on the Foot Stompin' website. It quite clearly explains how the money is spent and where it comes from.
BSGI is to be expanded as it is a success story and already full. New schools have been recently built in Cawdor, Inshes, Millburn, Dingwall, Drummond and a new one is to be built at Milton. Quite clearly the 'majority' of English medium pupils are being catered for. Being a Gaelic speaker has nothing to do with elitism but please feel free to find some examples if you can think of any.
The NT is running a vote as to whether too much is being spent on Gaelic and there is a clear majority of people who are saying 'NO'. The so-called 'silent majority' seems to be a convenient argument for those actually in the minority, if you can't back it up with any hard evidence then just say 'but the silent majority say so!' So obviously it must be true!
2 days ago, 17:05:04
– Like – Reply
Liked by
Guest
Arthur Cormack
To Michael O'Reilly, Mac and David Gunn: The facts are that less than 0.25% of the Highland Council's budget (less than a quarter of one percent) is spent by the Highland Council on Gaelic, while less than 0.07% (less than three quarters of a tenth of one per cent) of the Scottish Government's budget is spent by the Scottish Government on Gaelic.
Mac: There are plenty of Gaelic medium units that started off their existence in portacabins, and plenty still in them. Your argument is perfectly valid, but Gaelic pupils should not have to put up with second class accommodation any more than English language pupils. The fact is this applies to both and stopping spending on Gaelic will not solve that problem. Would you argue that an English language education is more or less valid than a Gaelic one?
2 days ago, 22:49:18
– Like – Reply
Liked by
Guest
Catach
Leodhasach, I agree. People often claim the support of the "silent majority" when they wish to give their spurious arguments more weight. Who are this mythical "silent majority"? If they feel that strongly about it, why are they silent? And if they are silent, how does Councillor Mackay know what they think?
It really beats me how people can be so bothered by, as Arthur Cormack points out, less than a quarter of one percent of the Highland Council's total budget. When people are complaining about the spending of council money, Gaelic is always an easy target - does that mean that you think that the other 99.75 percent of council money is spent wisely? Do you really think that our roads and schools etc would be in a better state if no money was spent on Gaelic?
"More people speak Polish than Gaelic in the Highlands". Well yes, Poles. I don't think the Poles really need our help in preserving their language, do they? It seems to be in a perfectly healthy state. It's surely up to the Poles to keep their own heritage alive; if Scotland doesn't preserve Gaelic nobody else will.
Tuilleadh an seo:
http://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/fu ... ponse.html