48 Comments

• seanomelb | Feb 25, 2013, 07:23 PM EST

  Wee willy I bet If I walked into the GPO and asked for "Dha stampa mar se do holl e" I would obtain two stamps. You bigoted little ferret

• seanomelb | Feb 24, 2013, 07:37 PM EST

  No smrnian he's not it just passess over your head and at your height that would not be hard.Irishnorth writes like a Magritte painting to surreal for you to understand.

• Will Hamilton | Feb 24, 2013, 02:15 PM EST

  He may as well be trying to order stamps talking Irish or Swahili in the GPO!

• Smyrnian | Feb 23, 2013, 06:59 PM EST

  IrelandNorth - Are you drugs? You make no sense.

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• IrelandNorth | Feb 22, 2013, 02:28 PM EST

  A siege mentality is the price one pays for dubious title deeds. Like the wealthy in their pearly gated communities who end up imprisoning themselves due to their ill gotten gains. Karma will out! Like orthodox Jews bobbing and weaving at the western wall of the second Jerusalem temple, King William's men parade ad infinitum, like lost dogs chasing tails that cannot be caught. "Thought crime does not entail death. Though crime IS death!" George Orwell, 1984.

• Realist | Feb 22, 2013, 12:16 PM EST

  warrenpoint: “we do not have to do that to prove our identity”? Lol….this whole website is a monument to your cultural insecurity and pathological need for attention from those you seem to hate (the British). I suggest you grow up before it’s too late.

• warrenpoint00 | Feb 21, 2013, 08:28 PM EST

  Willy Hamilton, you paint a very pleasant picture, of a very endearing and simple people, the Irish .Not at all like the british of which you are a subject, that participates in murder ,rape ,sodomy ,flag waving beer drinking ,goofy bagpiping, public urination and church protesting ,all in a manner to proclaim their britishness on the twelfth day of July every year in that endearing island of Ireland.Why do you have to do that.?Inferiority, maybe, uneducated, low self esteem,no culture.I think you british guys are just jealous of the Irish William, we do not have to do that to prove our identity.Bye,bye Will.

• seanomelb | Feb 21, 2013, 07:43 PM EST

  Any park would be far superior to your carnival of fools on the TWALFTH. Clowns wearing bowler hats and banging Lambegh drums. My grandsons could keep a better beat than those fools.

• Will Hamilton | Feb 21, 2013, 05:29 PM EST

  Along with the illusion that Irish people talk, Irish Plastic Paddies are also programmed to assume that anyone "back home" (sic) who doesn't fit the Darby O'Gill image of Ireland must be from somewhere other than the Republic of Botched (1922 to present). Americans who live with the delusion of being Irish need to build themselves a fantasy amusement park island east of Queens. They can call it the Emerald Isle and fill it with red haired girls who wear knitted socks and go to Mass every Sunday. The annual festival could have coffin ship races, brown bread throwing contests and English bashing. Of course all this would be presided over by their Emperor the Pope who would deliver his annual address in Irish.

• IrelandNorth | Feb 21, 2013, 02:58 PM EST

  Why aren't you posting As Gaelige?

• WoundedKnee | Feb 21, 2013, 02:20 PM EST

  "The people who killed the Irish language, and who continue to wilfully ignore it everyday in Ireland, are the Irish." That may be unpalatable to lots of us, but it's true. As a columnist in today's Dublin Irish Times pointed out, this Canadian astronaut used more Irish in space than most Irish use in a year.

• seanomelb | Feb 20, 2013, 10:51 PM EST

  Dearie me!! wee willy is now an expert on the Irish language the little orange turd.

• Searlit | Feb 20, 2013, 08:28 PM EST

  I think some long overdue compassion is what's needed by the Irish, not continual browbeating, Woundedknee.

• Will Hamilton | Feb 20, 2013, 05:52 PM EST

  The people who killed the Irish language, and who continue to wilfully ignore it everyday in Ireland, are the Irish. It's amazing how Plastic Paddies who delude themselves into something they're not can't handle anything that does not tally with the delusional version of Ireland they've been fed. Irish people do not speak Irish, don't want to speak Irish and will never in the future use it as a daily language. It's a dead limb that the Irish language Nazi's insist on dragging from one century into the next. If Ireland did not speak English it would have had a much harder time attracting foreign companies and emigrating from the failed Republic would have been even harder. The natives, bar the Irish language Nazi's, figured that out a long time ago. Those who want to speak it should pay for it instead of shoving the bill into everyone else's pocket.

• IrelandNorth | Feb 20, 2013, 02:04 PM EST

  I respectfully suggest that the above aerial photograph of Dublin by nightime is c 10 degree north by north west - Dublin @ 23:50 hrs GMT. That is slightly off centre, consonant with the International Space Station orbit, etc. It's undoubtedly difficult to photograph a moving object from a moving object. I believe Einstein said something about relativity. Still, top marks to Cmdr Hadfield. He's done the Irish national capitol a great honour. Go raibhb maith aige!

• WoundedKnee | Feb 20, 2013, 12:57 PM EST

  What a joke, tho typical of Irish hypocrisy. I am, as far as I can tell, the only poster here who is fluent in Irish, yet I am attacked as being an enemy of the language. Listen, seanomel and the rest of the clowns' chorus. When you are able to write a post in passably correct Irish I'll pay some heed to your hypocritical whinings.

• WoundedKnee | Feb 20, 2013, 12:54 PM EST

  Searlit: It's true that the language of instruction in the National Schools was English, but it's absurd to say that meant "prohibiting" the Irish language. And nobody stopped the children from prattling away in Irish on the way home, as I am sure they often did. But there's evidence that the Irish parents connived with government policy. You may have heard of the "tally stick" upon which the teacher was supposed to cut a notch every time the child spoke Irish in class. This stick was sent home to the parents, the Irish-speaking parents, who often beat their children for speaking Irish at school. Pretty pathological, I would think. And even if we wipe the slate clean of blame for the Irish parents of the 1830s to 1860s, the period when the language crashed, the fact remains that that's almost two hundred years ago. Why is it relevant to Irish people's apathy or at worst hatred for the language today?

• IrelandNorth | Feb 20, 2013, 03:21 AM EST

  Say what ye like about ár téanga féin. We've beaten Linguaphone and Rosetta Stone into outer space with the first intergalactic branch of Chonradh na Gaelige. Mind you, I'd rather speak Irish any day than that dodgey Dr Spock Vulcan incomphrensible gibberish. Incidentally, Paddy Maloney on BBC breakfast TV spoke of how his eldest son is a rocket scientist with NASA, and how a Chieftains CD was brough and played from the ISS on one of the last few Shuttles. Their most recent CD is "The Chieftains in Orbit (or Spact?)". So, whatever about putting that in yer pipe and smokin' it, put that in yer CD and play it!

• Searlit | Feb 19, 2013, 11:42 PM EST

  In a book I have,'Irish History' General Editor - Séamus Mac Annaidh, it does say in speaking about the Hedge Schools. "The National School system, set up in 1831, provided free schooling, but the use of the Irish language was still prohibited."

• Seanmor | Feb 19, 2013, 11:28 PM EST

  Teanga na nGael is as much part of our cultural heritage as céilí music, pagpiping, Irish step-dancing and celebrating St. Patrick's Day. An Ghaeilge is the official language of the Irish state, tho very few T.D.'s ever use it, Gerry Adams being one of the noticable exceptions. Go maire teanga na nGael go deo.

• surfsidetx3 | Feb 19, 2013, 05:53 PM EST

  to the anti gaelic posters, I just watched Rick Steves and apparently he is confused or mistaken.
  
  Because he listed towns and taped Gaelic speakers in Ireland
  
  make sure y'll email him and correct him
  so his trevel guide will be accurate

• warrenpoint00 | Feb 19, 2013, 05:52 PM EST

  Same old problem in Ireland, we still have those butt kissers, like the poster wounded knee,so called Irish man, who for some reason feels that he {they} owe something to those foreign occupiers of Willie Hamilton,s ilk that they are prepared to pay homage to them for their hate fueled rhetoric against the Irish people.Ireland would certainly be a much safer ,better environment without these two donkeys.Give me a nation of Polish people any day, at least the Polish people love the Irish and their culture, unlike those two buffoons.Willie Frazer ,should,nt. you be down on the Netownards Rd throwing stones at Irish people instead of spouting your mouth on here. Take the other Klan members, wounded knee,Will Hamilton, anglo Norman with you as well.Remember ,birds of a feather,stick together.

• Opening Salvo | Feb 19, 2013, 05:49 PM EST

  Willie Frazer that's REPUBLIC to the likes of you. "It is all a plan to get rid of us presbyuterians ye know ,and it is working too" That's good to hear.

• bunkerhill | Feb 19, 2013, 05:18 PM EST

  Where is my comment?

• seanomelb | Feb 19, 2013, 05:16 PM EST

  Wee willy Hamilton from the ninee counties of ulster on his usual tirade of abuse and hate speech. and moron woundeknee gives wee willy a glimmer of hope with his racism What a pair of idoits.

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 05:05 PM EST

  Willie Frazer's grammar and spelling is atrocious whereas my own after 800 years of English oppression is outstanding. I would point out the irony and say more but the dog is barking outside.

• Smyrnian | Feb 19, 2013, 04:50 PM EST

  Ah, come on Willie. No Fenian schools and I for one ( and nobody I know) has any bad intentions or opinions vs. our Presbyterian neighbors. Most of us ''Papists' are ok: some bad apples but we all have them. Cheers!

• Willie Frazer | Feb 19, 2013, 04:44 PM EST

  A couple of good friends of mine down in the free state told me that the Israeli secret service mosad, that they even converse gaelic.It seems a Mr Briscoe, an Israelite was a government minister one time in the state and he was instrumental in gettting this achieved.A don't know a think as wounded knee says not many speak the ancient language down in the state anymore but up in my BELOVED ULSTER there is a lot av gaelic being spoken even by Polish childer are been taught at them fenian schools they have.It is all a plan to get rid of us presbyuterians ye know ,and it is working too.

• bunkerhill | Feb 19, 2013, 03:34 PM EST

  Thank you so much Commander Chris Hadfield for speaking Gaelic from outer space. What a magnificent tribute to a tiny ancient island which has struggled to keep it's history and language alive. Considering that Chinese is the most widely spoken worldwide language with English following by approx half, the fact that ancient Gaelic should be spoken from outer space is indeed a tribute to those who preserve History. God Bless you Commander for your thoughtfulness.

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 03:11 PM EST

  Normally in Ireland and particularly nowadays, if you hear the dog barking outside. The TV license inspector is approaching your door and you should hide behind the couch until the door bell stops ringing. In fact in my park if the street dog barks the neighbours and I hide behind our couches until the dog howls indicating the TV license inspector has left the area. A fantastic dog and indigenous to Cork. Worth the scraps we feed it. Anyway. If you speak Irish there is no need to hide behind the couch. Again insist 'as gaeilge' that the TV license inspector conduct himself in Irish at your door. Invariably you will find they don't speak Irish and you can stand there smiling as they retreat from your door scratching their heads. Dog handy what..

• IrelandNorth | Feb 19, 2013, 02:41 PM EST

  Will Hamilton! Tá tú ag caint tríd dó thóin. Tá cúpla daoine chomh maith líomsa ar án ait seo ba éa is maith linn an Gaeilge go mór. Tá dó craoi an crúa ár fád. Why don't you rev-up and phuck-off in that [in]con[tra]vertible of yours. (Hey! I can see my apartment light on just south central of that aerial photograph of Dublin city, just like I can check my roof tiles with GoggleEarth. Must turn it off to cut down on my utility bills.

• WoundedKnee | Feb 19, 2013, 01:36 PM EST

  Searlit, what you claim is by no means an "incontrovertible fact". Certainly the medieval English in Ireland were discouraged from "going native", but I am aware of no statutes that banned the Gaelic Irish from speaking the language. And more relevantly, no one has "forbidden" the use of the language for over a hundred and fifty years now. The incontrovertible fact is that there is no prohibition on Irish, so the Irish bear the full responsibility for the impending death of the language.

• WoundedKnee | Feb 19, 2013, 01:32 PM EST

  The poster Will Hamilton is abusive, but he is correct in some of what he says. You can traverse Ireland and you won't hear the language being spoken. Dublin, Cork, Limerick--it's all the same--English followed by Polish, Russian, Urdu, Mandarin, Romanian, maybe not in that order. Irish nowhere. Before Mass Immigration Irish was the second most commonly spoken language in Ireland, today I doubt if it's in the top eight. The foreign migrants have no interest in it, which is their prerogative, but you even hear some of the spineless Irish saying "we should learn Polish so as to be able to talk to the New Irish, and dump the Irish language". Mass Immigration will pretty much kill off Irish, but I don't blame the foreign migrants, why should they be interested in a language that many of the Irish hate, and few of them speak. It is too bad, because if Irish were strong in Ireland, like Danish is in Denmark, Mass Immigration would actually have been a good thing, since the migrants would have had to learn the language to live in Ireland. But now they don't, and they won't.

• Searlit | Feb 19, 2013, 01:17 PM EST

  Yes, and it's an incontrovertable fact that Irish, the language of Ireland, was forbidden to be spoken by her legitimate countrymen by the English invaders. Now who were the Nazi's?

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 01:05 PM EST

  @Will Hamilton- Don't knock the Irish language man it has its uses, particularly nowadays when there are so many nationalities that are now Gardai. You have the right to be arrested in Irish. If you can determine that the Garda that is attempting to arrest you is foreign insist 'as gaeilge' that he or she arrest you in Irish. This is easy if they are black. Invariably they don't speak Irish and you will be free to leave the scene. Dog handy if one has stolen horse or donkey meat from a supermarket to feed the childers. Same applies to traffic wardens. No speaka the lingo, no ticket.

• Will Hamilton | Feb 19, 2013, 12:26 PM EST

  It is an incontrovertible fact that Irish is forced on school children despite the wishes of the children or their parents. It's also an incontrovertible fact that the vast majority of Irish people drop the Irish language as soon as they leave school. If it was all that popular you'd hear it everyday considering the fact that the Irish language Nazi's see to it that it's forced down every school child's throat. Anyone who want's to speak it can talk themselves silly but it's Nazism to expect everyone else in Ireland to pay for you hobby. TG4 the Irish language station ran a documentary last year with an Irish speaker. He travelled the length and breath of the country speaking Irish and looking for Irish speakers. He had trouble being understood wherever he went. He had to revert to English.

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 10:55 AM EST

  @Mousemess- Its ok. I'm fully growed now and own a toilet of my own.

• Mousemess | Feb 19, 2013, 10:21 AM EST

  Antoman, An bhfeadfainn dul go dti an leithris, ma's e do thoil e? or else An bhfeadfainn dul go dti an leithris, le'd thoil? Could I or May I go to the toilet, please? Said as Un vay-ding dul guh jee un leh-rish maw shay duh hell ay or ending with led hell for pronunciation guide

• Mousemess | Feb 19, 2013, 10:08 AM EST

  @Will Hamilton, Irish is my second language after English. I read, write, speak and think in Irish as well as in English. There are Irish language classes in several major US cities. There are people speaking Irish in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, etc. More people are learning Irish in the 21st century and we who speak Irish are very proud to do so. We love Irish language song, culture, hymns, etc. And we who speak are Irish are no longer forced to keep it hidden and silent. Irish is also the first official language of Eire/Ireland and English is the other language according to the Bunreacht na hEirinn (The Constitution of Ireland. Irish speakers in Eirinn are entitled to the same respect as are English speakers there. And look at another small island country Iceland and also Faroe. The same people who speak Icelandic or Faroese are also capable of speaking Danish or English. So even if Icelandic and Faroese are local only to those countries, those people are intelligent and sophisticated enough to speak a world class language like English but at the same time not let the English language overwhelm their ability to speak Icelandic or Faroese. The average European these days is used to speaking 2 or more languages at once reasonably well. The use of Irish language will preserve a language local to Eire/Ireland but in no way ever hinder the ability to speak English. Sorry the Irish language has you so bent of shape and so unhappy, Will.

• slainte9 | Feb 19, 2013, 10:03 AM EST

  @Will Hamilton: its abusive to call people Nazis.

• Mousemess | Feb 19, 2013, 09:47 AM EST

  Go raibh mile maith agat, a Chriostoir, as ucht do chuid Gaeilge! Thank you very much, Chris for your Irish!

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 09:41 AM EST

  @Will Hamilton- We learn French and German too, Latin if you want instead of doing commerce in school. Polish immigrants after leaving school will speak four languages. Irish, English, French or German and their own Polish language. My Irish is poor because I spent a lot of time on the "hop" from school and playing pool. I can agree on what you say about official forms arriving in Irish and English. Tis a waste of a good tree. Era, despite having poor Irish you'd know I was from Cork. Know what I mean biy.

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 09:36 AM EST

  @Will Hamilton: That is not true. I and my family and most of my friends speak Irish, just not too often. I'm interested to hear why you think learning German, French or Spanish is really more "useful" than learning our own national language, and indeed why you think it's not possible to do both? Would you also advocate the removal of "useless" history classes, or anything which doesn't directly translate into immediate vocational skills? In school I learned fluent English, excellent Irish, decent French and a little German, and in my spare time am learning Chinese at the minute. Do you think as a child I would have chosen to study Irish had it not been mandatory in school? No, and that's why I'm glad it was. Your choice of the word "Nazi" to characterise those who want us to keep our national language is very distasteful, saddening and frankly very childish.

• bobby | Feb 19, 2013, 09:25 AM EST

  @Will Hamilton, I just got back from a trip to West Cork and Kerry and many people spoke Irish. Beautiful country.

• Will Hamilton | Feb 19, 2013, 09:15 AM EST

  There is more chance of meeting an Irish speaking alien than there is of meeting people in Ireland who speak it!. Despite never ending attempts by the Irish language Nazi's to force a dead language down everyone else's throat the Irish people have abandoned it long ago. It's a disgrace that Irish children are force to waste valuable school hours that could be spent on useful languages like German, French or Spanish. Councils, government departments and semi-state companies waste millions of taxpayers money translating documents, signs and verbal announcements into a language that nobody needs or wants (bar the bog brigade who make money from it in grants and handy jobs!). Official letters are sent out every day with the top half in Irish (it has to come first because of the fantasy that's it the "official language of Ireland") confusing young and old who often mistake it for some Easter European tongue. It's also been used by the Catholic Church Limited as a form of racism to exclude foreigners and protestants from jobs as police and schoolteachers. It's way past time for the life support to be switched off permanently on this minority hobby horse.

• Seanmor | Feb 19, 2013, 08:46 AM EST

  Hadfield sounds like a very Anglo name and his interest i dteanga na nGael is most unusual. But he is NOT the only North American with an Anglo surnamre a bhfuil Gaeilge aige. My wife of 20 years is descended from ancestors who arrived here from England around the mid-1600s agus tá níos mó ná cúpla focal aici.

• antoman | Feb 19, 2013, 07:45 AM EST

  My Irish is so poor. That if an alien intelligence landed on the green outside, because the Canadian astronaut had provoked its curiosity about our language and country, and approached me speaking as gaeilge. I would reply "an bhuil cead agam dul go dti an leithris mas se do halla" Translated it means "can I go to the toilet please".