Ruaille buaille in the name of the fada
Tuesday May 12 2009
WHAT'S in a name? A great deal if it's in Irish and requires a fada.
Yesterday it was revealed that the Department of Social and Family Affairs has been going to extreme lengths to remove the fada from the names of every child born in the State with an Irish language name requiring the accent.
The department has been effectively changing names such as Seán, Máire and Póilín to Sean, Maire and Poilin.
The practice has been going on with the names of all children requiring a fada who were being registered for child benefit payments.
The birth registration data came from the General Registrar's Office with every appropriate síneadh fada in place.
Database
But when subsequently transferred electronically to the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the fada was removed to facilitate inclusion in shared databases within the department. This was despite the fact the department's computer system could readily handle every síneadh fada required.
The amended version of the name of each child affected, when used in conjunction with a newly generated PPS number, would become the norm for all other public service use in areas such as tax, social welfare, education and health.
Yesterday, the Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish language commissioner), Seán Ó Cuirreáin, said he had made recommendations to the department to resolve the issue.
The coimisinéir acted on foot of a complaint from a member of the public who was aggrieved when told that his daughter's name Róise Máire could not be registered as shown on her birth certificate and that Roise Maire would have to be used. Two similar complaints were subsequently received.
Mr Ó Cuirreáin said: "They were obviously being failed in the simplest of ways for no good reason".
Following the recommendations by the coimisinéir, the department is now required to use only the accurate versions of birth record details from the General Registrar's Office, including the use of the síneadh fada.
Nearly 600 complaints were made to the coimisinéir over difficulties in accessing state services through Irish last year.
In his annual report published yesterday, Mr Ó Cuirreáin revealed that the Deptartment of Social and Family Affairs was one of six government departments found to be in breach of legislation aimed at protecting and promoting the native language. The other departments were the Department of Community and Gaeltacht Affairs, Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Department of Social & Family Affairs, the Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform, Department of Education & Science, and the Department of Transport.
Last night, a spokeswoman for the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs said: "The Department is as committed as ever to the implementation of the provisions of the Official Languages Act and to achieving the objectives associated with it."
- BRIAN McDONALD
