Thursday, January 29, 2004

Like many across the country, they want Irish to be granted "working language" status in the European Union.

At the moment it has only "treaty language" status, meaning that while it is used in EU correspondence, it cannot be used by right in the European parliament. It also means the Union's official journal is not translated into Irish. . . .

But advocates of change say enhanced status would create more jobs for Irish speakers in Brussels and argue that -- more importantly -- the issue is a matter of principle. (emphasis added)