Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Ballads of Northern IrelandAuthor(s): Thomas DavisSource: Fortnight, No. 296 (Jun., 1991), p. 33Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25552956 .

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steps taken to promote the language have been

undone by the "blacklisting" of the west Bel

fast branch of Glor na nGael (Fortnight 288). Mr Andrews argues that a unionist ethos

"dominated educational thinking and policy,

planning and administration since the founding of the State". And he says: "What little the

government has done for Irish has been due to

political pressure." Pressure, he asserts, which

may force the government to implement more

radical changes to give "the Irish cultural iden

tity" more recognition in education.

The essay traces the approach to Irish of

successive unionist governments. In the 20

years before partition the Irish language had

become an increasingly popular subject in

schools, due mainly to the efforts ofthe Gaelic

League. By the time of partition, the paper

argues, the British had come to realise that Irish

had a special relevance and so had given it a

position on the periphery of the curriculum.

But in 1923 the teaching of Irish in public

elementary schools was restricted by the North

ern Ireland administration to 90 minutes per week. In 1927 Lord Charlemont, the Stormont

minister of education, told a delegation from

Comhaltas Uladh that Irish was dead or dying and French was a more useful language.

And so things remained, until March 1989

when the education minister, Brian Mahwin

ney, reversed his plan to lower the status of

Irish in the new curriculum?though Mr An

drews claims this still left Irish "on the fringes" in English-medium primary schools and "a

low-status option" at secondary level.

Mr Andrews contends that the language had

became a political issue with the emergence of

Sinn Fein as a serious rival to the SDLP for

nationalist support. He claims this heightened the awareness of the SDLP to language issues

and encouraged the British government to add

Irish to the political agenda, if only to under

mine support for Sinn Fein.

Last year the government established the

Ultach Trust to promote the language, but Mr

Andrews claims the decision five months later

to withdraw funding from Glor na nGael "undid

the government's good work". He detects "a

mixture of hope and concern" about the gov ernment's plans for Irish as the educational

reforms take shape. The Education Reform Order of 1989 even

tually gave Irish equal status with French,

German, Spanish and Italian as a choice in

language studies in secondary schools, but Mr

Andrews claims it has a lower status?"equiva lent to classics"?when schools fulfil their

timetabling obligations. He concludes that the political pressure

which initiated changes in government atti

tudes towards Irish continues to be exerted and

that, in spite of recent setbacks, the government seems committed to an approved status for the

language. But, he says, "it may take some time

before a consensus is reached as to what that

should be and how it should be achieved", e

BALLADS OF NORTHERN IRELAND

In the 1840s the Young Irelander Thomas Davis sought to raise Ireland from its slough of despond by composing stirring ballads. But how would Davis have adapted these were he writing in today's more pluralist (?) times? The Wearing ofthe Green and Cities ofthe Plain might go something like this, perhaps... (A free Fortnight subscription for any plausible effort by other would-be Davisite balladeers.)

The Wearing of the Patience

It's all the rage, we've reached the stage, the news is going forth ?From Community Relations, from Co-operation North?

That Prejudice-Reduction-on-a-Scale-from-One-to-Ten Is just the thing to get the North upon its feet again.

I woke up one fine morning with my prejudice intact.

I really longed to find a Teague (Prod) and slit him, that's a fact,

But at the Social Centre a poster beckoned me:

'Come in and meet the Other Side, we're sure you'll soon agree'.

For Prejudice-Reduction-on-a-Scale-from-One-to-Ten Is just the thing to get the North upon its feet again.

I watched a touring drama group explore the common ground, Not a Field Day deconstruction that proved the state unsound,

But a play that showed how Pearse and Carson really liked each other,

So my prejudice went down one point, and I sought my Orange (Fenian) brother.

For Prejudice-Reduction etc

I sat next to a Catholic (Protestant) bloke, we had a cup of tea,

It turned out that we raved about the same stuff on TV.

Rambo and The Godfather were our cultural traditions.

So my prejudice was fading, and my murderous ambitions.

For Prejudice-Reduction etc

What with baps and crack and songs and inter-personal relations,

Very soon the folks forgot their sectarian situations,

Prejudice was sinking lower than all the recorded norms

?But then they came and made us fill in the bloody forms.

For Prejudice-Reduction etc

My Protestant (Catholic) pal and I exchanged quite a nasty look.

T didn't come in here,' I said, 'to write a f? book'.

'Nor I,' he said, 'and if I did, I wouldn't want you in it'.

So my prejudice soared sky-high again in less than half a minute.

It's all the rage, we've reached the stage, the news is going forth ?From Community Relations, from Co-operation North?

That Prejudice-Reduction-on-a-Scale-from-One-to-Ten Is just the thing to get the North upon its feet again.

Ir

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Cities of Culture Oh Paris has the Tour Eiffel and Centre Pompidou And monuments to culture-heroes known to me and you

?But Belfast has the Cecil Ward Building.

And oh the streets of Florence praise Dante and Gramsci still, 'En la sua voluntade', 'optimism of the will'

?But Belfast has the Cecil Ward Building.

Though Dublin may exploit Jim Joyce to give tourism a boost

At least its literary giants at last come home to roost

?But Belfast has the Cecil Ward Building.

Oh even the streets of Belfast are part redeemed from shame,

To Holy and Imperial lands they add the Muses' names

?But now we have the Cecil Ward Building.

And oh for what proud masonry shall our city soon give thanks?

For the Dixie Gilmore concert-hall? Frank Millar Laganbank?

?Belfast has the Cecil Ward Building.

'THOMAS DAVIS'

FORTNIGHT JUNE 33

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