litir san Inverness Courier - road signs...

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'S e deagh litir a tha air nochdadh san Courier. Sin thu fhèin Dhòmhnaill!

Councillors should accept decision on signs

Inverness Courier
07 October, 2008


Sir, We are concerned that some councillors in Inverness are once
again resisting bilingual signs in Gaelic and English.

As readers will be aware, Highland Council has voted on numerous
occasions to use bilingual signage throughout the authority area and
Foram Gàidhlig Inbhir Nis fully supports this policy.

Just as the inclusion of Gaelic on signs in the city is a simple but
important tool for promoting the Gaelic identity of the area and
communicating a message on the pride the Highlands and Inverness has
in our Gaelic community, so too the exclusion of Gaelic on signs
communicates a negative message to the community that Gaelic should
be replaced with a monolingual identity for the city.

We see bilingual signs as part of the environment required to develop
and grow Gaelic.

We are fortunate to have a rich Gaelic culture of which many young
people growing up in the area are rightly proud.

So too Gaelic posts within Inverness provide an important boost to
the local economy and help attract young people to the city.

We would request that those against bilingual signs clarify if they
wish this economic boost to relocate to another area where public
representatives support the language and which has a more enlightened
attitude to Gaelic.

Our position at Foram Gàidhlig Inbhir Nis is clear: We fully support
Highland Council with its bilingual signs policy.

Elected members in Inverness who are unable to live with a council
decision which was agreed by a majority vote on more than one
occasion should take a good hard look in the mirror.

If they are unable to live with democracy they may be unable to
remain part of the system that grants them their titles and influence.

Their partisan and unreasonable behaviour flies in the face of the
Gaelic Language Act and Highland Council's own Gaelic Language Plan —
both of which accept the place of Gaelic as a language
deserving "equal respect" to English. It's about time they showed
some respect.

Donald Morris, Chairperson, Foram Gàidhlig Inbhir Nis (Inverness
Gaelic Forum), 5 Mitchell's Lane, Inverness

[GunChleoc]

Deagh bheachd!

So too Gaelic posts within Inverness provide an important boost to the local economy and help attract young people to the city.

We would request that those against bilingual signs clarify if they wish this economic boost to relocate to another area where public representatives support the language and which has a more enlightened attitude to Gaelic.

Hit them where it hurts

[Coinneach Cìr]

Litir mhath gun teagamh.