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<h1>Ardfheis hears about Irish language group’s call not to vote for Fine Gael</h1>
<h2> Dublin Bay North delegate speaks in English ‘so people can understand’ </h2>
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Sat, Jan 23, 2016, 12:07
<span title="Sat, Jan 23, 2016, 12:15 (GMT)" class=""><span>Updated: </span>Sat, Jan 23, 2016, 12:15</span>
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<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/profile/marie-o-halloran-7.1837472" class="">Marie O'Halloran</a></span>
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<div style="height:659px" class=""> Dublin
Bay North delegate Jeff Johnson, who said he would speak in English “so
people can understand”, told the Fine Gael ardfheis on Saturday that
the party had caused a lot of controversy with its Irish language policy
and “it’s an awful pity, especially in the last five years”.</div>
<p class="">He said “we’ve lost members in Dublin Bay North and
it’s led to protests outside Fine Gael headquarters and Conradh na
Gaeilge emailing their members and anyone affiliated with them not to
vote for the party”.</p>
<p class="">Mr Johnson later clarified that it was a group
affiliated with Conradh na Gaeilge that issued the email,adding that he
“recognised the good work of Conradh na Gaeilge”.</p>
<p class="">Fine Gael backed his motion to officially recognise a
Comhairle na Gaeilge affiliate group to propose Irish language policy
to the parliamentary party and the ardfheis, to promote the use of the
language within Fine Gael and to highlight that “Fine Gael is a party
deeply committed to An Gaeilge.</p>
<ul><li class=""><a class="" href="http://www.irishtimes.com/election-2016">
<span class="">Election 2016</span>
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<p class="">The group had been acting unofficially and “we would like it to be officially supported by the party”.</p>
<p class="">Mr Johnson said “those who founded the State and went on to found the party were heavily involved in Conradh na Gaeilge”.</p>
<p class="">“Even the party’s own name is taken from the Irish,” he added.</p>
<p class="">He said it was fortunate that a manifesto pledge at
the last election to end compulsory Irish in the Leaving Certificate did
not go ahead.</p>
<p class="">He said there had been a lot of progress and
commended Minister of State Joe McHugh as Minister for Gaeilge Affairs
because he had “made great effort and been very impressive”.</p>
<p class="">Mr McHugh’s appointment was controversial because of his lack of Irish, but he had learned the language on the job.</p>
<p class="">National executive candidate Eileen Lynch told about
100 people in the auditorium for the debate that “Irish is
constitutionally our first language. It is a recognised European working
language. While we have made great strides within the party, it is
still something we need to strongly support.”</p>
<p class="">She said “it is important that we do all we can to promote Irish”.</p><p class=""><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ardfheis-hears-about-irish-language-group-s-call-not-to-vote-for-fine-gael-1.2508356">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ardfheis-hears-about-irish-language-group-s-call-not-to-vote-for-fine-gael-1.2508356</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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