Waste of delivering 9,000,000 pages in Irish language

rabbit said:
One is bad enough, the two together is breaking the posties back.

Do think that printing that 9,000,000 - or even 18,000,000 and delivering them needlessly around the country , at a cost to you , me and the environment - is necessary ?
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I completely agree with you rabbit. Total waste of money/trees.
But if the booklet had no Irish section in it, there would be war !
 
truthseeker said:
Most people put junk mail like that directly in the bin regardless of what language its in.
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True, but as I said I would think it safe to assume some people - however few - will get some use out of the information in the English language part of the An Post book....therefore how can anyone argue it is just as much a waste of money ? The point is, half the full colour book is in Irish. If every postal address in the country gets these extra 9 pages in Irish what a waste of trees and energy.
 
Quite simple - as truthseeker put it they could have very easily put all this information into one A4 sheet in black and white (and in both English and Irish). I don't agree with you that it's ok to have it in English but scandalous to have it in Irish - so think you're wrong to speak on everyone's behalf there! As I said there has been a previous discussion on the merits of translations so I don't want to go over all that again.
 
Teabag said:
I completely agree with you rabbit. Total waste of money/trees.
But if the booklet had no Irish section in it, there would be war !
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Glad someone agrees with me. However giving in to the threat of war is not great .......lets help the environment and halve govt printing costs instead
 
rabbit said:
Glad someone agrees with me. However giving in to the threat of war is not great .......lets help the environment and halve govt printing costs instead
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If it was in black and white on a plain A4 sheet the printing costs would be a fraction of the cost of the glossy colour version.
 
I see it's also available in Chinese, Russian, Polish and Braille — and in an 'easy to read' version.

I'm beginning to think there's some kind of sinister social engineering going on here...
 

By that logic, if only some people will read the english text, you can also assume that some people will read the Irish text. Overall its a waste of time, but to suggest that its only the Irish bit that is a waste is incorrect in my opinion.

Glad someone agrees with me. However giving in to the threat of war is not great .......lets help the environment and halve govt printing costs instead
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Funny how people suggest that this is a threat to the environment but probably turn a blind eye to the things that are of convenience to them.
 
DrMoriarty said:
I see it's also available in Chinese, Russian, Polish and Braille — and in an 'easy to read' version.
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See Peter run. Peter runs away from the nuclear fallout. Run, Peter, run. Faster, Peter, faster. No - not that way you fool!

New words on this page: "nuclear", "fallout"


 
MrMan said:
By that logic, if only some people will read the english text, you can also assume that some people will read the Irish text.
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Far far less. Ever go in to a newsagent and see the quantity of newspapers + magazines sold in the Irish language.
 
Thinking about this in its broader context its how Government communicates with the people, perhaps we should stop advertising in news ppaers ans delivering leaflets into doors and just put everything (in any language you like) on a website, give those who dont have access to pc's, access to greater pc in local libraries, or other govt offices.
 
This an issue of practicality and taxpayer value, not an Irishness competition.

All the money/paper spent on making the Irish portion of this booklet will have zero impact on the penetration of the Irish language in this country.
 
All the money/paper spent on making the Irish portion of this booklet will have zero impact on the penetration of the Irish language in this country
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Yes and I would imagine that the english literature has little or no impact on its 'readership', so all in all we should have saved on the entire piece.

Far far less. Ever go in to a newsagent and see the quantity of newspapers + magazines sold in the Irish language.
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So maybe we should be encouraging the use of the language then and not diminishing it further. Our language isn't a hindrance its part of our culture and heritage, it would be nice to see it re-emerge as a widely spoken language on our island.
 
Yawn.....this thread is turning into the Great Irish Debate again..........zzzz......zzzzz.......zzz.......
 
Yawn.....this thread is turning into the Great Irish Debate again..........zzzz......zzzzz.......zzz.......
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Maybe you should complain to the appropriate authority and have it removed!
 
You're right it is boring, it just gets to me that some people find that spending money on using the language is more offensive than the actual waste of money in general. Like someone pointed out if it was 18 pages of english there would be no outcry, just seems silly.
 

I couldnt care less if it was in Mandarin, at the end of the day the government dont need to print basic (pretty useless) info in high glossy booklets - its not like the high gloss makes people more likely to read it!
 
Teabag said:
This an issue of practicality and taxpayer value, not an Irishness competition.

All the money/paper spent on making the Irish portion of this booklet will have zero impact on the penetration of the Irish language in this country.
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Exactly. Printing and distributing 9,000,000 or more extra pages is simply a waste and is harmful to the environment. Imagine calculating all the trees and ink used to print all the govt publications in duplicate.
 
So maybe we should be encouraging the use of the language then and not diminishing it further. Our language isn't a hindrance its part of our culture and heritage, it would be nice to see it re-emerge as a widely spoken language on our island.
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That would be a step backwards.
Not being able to understand someone is a hindrance.

Irish language should be treated like Irish music. If people want it they can have it. It shouldn't be forced onto everyone, and certainly not at taxpayers' expense.
 
Maybe we should focus on what should have been in the booklet. For example what to do with our spare time now that the national pastime of upsizing, downsizing, buying abroad, renovating, buying a holiday home or buying a buy to let is gone caput. Or a general piece on when it is acceptable to spit ( never) or indeed tut tut about the number of foreign nationals ( starting with 'I'm not a racist but...) ( again please never). Or even oral hygiene. All much more useful IMO.
 
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