Dev Óg puts smacht on NUIG with ‘Ó Cuív Bill'
Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley
Éamon Ó Cuív may seem like a gentle giant, and for the most part, he is. But whatever you do, don’t mess with Dev Óg’s beloved Irish language.
Hell hath no fury like a Gaeilgeoir scorned, which NUIG is discovering to its cost.
As a fluent speaker, and longstanding supporter of Gaeilge, Éamó is one of the great defenders of the language, which is on the ‘endangered species’ list.
So, when NUIG decided to abandon proficiency in the Irish language as one of the requirements for being president of the university, Dev Óg rightly lost the plot.
The Galway West TD – a former Gaeltacht Minister – wasn’t going to take it lying down.
“Given that there are four centres of Irish in the university that conduct their business through Irish – Galway, Carna, Carraroe and Gaoth Dobhair in Donegal – the question should be how could the new president be expected to carry out his or her business without being able to speak Irish,” he legitimately asked.
Since 1929, the NUIG President has been able to conduct university business in both languages.
And the Fianna Fáil TD devised a Bill in the Oireachtas – which attracted cross-party support – that would keep it that way, and mean that Jimmy Browne’s successor would have to have proficiency in Irish.
Minutes of the NUIG Governing Body meetings, released under Freedom of Information, suggest his efforts ruffled feathers in the ivory towers of academia.
At a special meeting in February, Catherine McGuinness, An Cathaoirleach, noted that “the Ó Cuív Bill came as a major surprise to the university”.
An Rúnaí (secretary) said it was “difficult to predict if the Ó Cuív Bill would ultimately be enacted”, and it was agreed that “the Presidency recruitment arrangements should continue unimpeded” without an Irish language requirement.
The minutes were heavily redacted, but it is clear Ó Cuív put the cat among the pigeons. At a February 28 meeting, some concern was expressed about dropping the Irish language requirement.
The minutes noted “a number of members referred to the last sentence of the draft statue, specifically the reference to the President ‘leading by personal example and endeavour’ and expressed the view that these words were ‘wishy washy’ and carried no particular import’.”
For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.