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

[Complainer]

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...

Do you consider meeting the needs of people with disabilities (blind people, people with learning disabilities) to be 'sinister social engineering'?

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"

I'm guessing that you don't really mean to cause offence to people with learning disabilities who would be using easy to read versions with this comment. Perhaps you'd like to research easy-to-read versions a bit more before you slag them off?

 

[DrMoriarty]

Do you consider meeting the needs of people with disabilities (blind people, people with learning disabilities) to be 'sinister social engineering'?

Of course not, no more (nor less) than the provision of information to Chinese, Russian and Polish speakers.
My remark was intended as a flippant aside in a Letting Off Steam thread about the waste of public resources.

I wish that our government departments and other publicly funded services would do more to address meaningfully the needs of people with disabilities, instead of indulging in costly and ineffectual PR exercises of the kind represented by these brochures.

 

[Green]

I wish that our government departments and other publicly funded services would do more to address meaningfully the needs of people with disabilities, instead of indulging in costly and ineffectual PR exercises of the kind represented by these brochures.

Yes, I wish they would too, but you must remember that Govt. Depts and agencies do what Govt want, and who put the Govt where it is? oh yes, I get it now.............................

 

[MrMan]

Not being able to understand someone is a hindrance.

thats why you learn the language.

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.

Nothing should be forced upon people and nothing should be forced to stop either. I don't agree with such publications but i do agree that the language should be encouraged to be used again.

 

[rabbit]

If all the govt. publications in Irish language - which nobody really reads - were stacked on top of each other, they would reach from here to the moon and back seventeen times.

Great use of resources / wood / ink / energy distributing them etc.

Shame on everyone involved.

 

[z103]

Nothing should be forced upon people and nothing should be forced to stop either.

Well there is a contradiction there. Should something that is being forced upon people be 'forced to stop'.

If all the govt. publications in Irish language - which nobody really reads - were stacked on top of each other, they would reach from here to the moon and back seventeen times.

Maybe we should have done that instead. Ireland would have had a space programme.

 

[rabbit]

At least the US space programme had spin offs for technology etc


Wasting money on Irish language publications which nobody reads only wastes money and harms the environment.

I am sure more time was wasted in Ireland over the decades trying to force Irish in to kids than was ever spend on any space programme anywhere.

 

[Jock04]

Maybe I'll understand one day, but I just don't get the hatred of your native tongue here.
It maybe wasn't taught very well in the past, and maybe - God help us- there's no profit in it, but it's part of what you are.
I haven't heard the French, Germans et al saying they should do away with their native tongue, just because international business and supporting foreign soccer teams is mainly done in English.

 

[ClubMan]

I am sure more time was wasted in Ireland over the decades trying to force Irish in to kids than was ever spend on any space programme anywhere.

Really? Care to substantiate that - e.g. money spent on teaching Irish versus, say, the US or USSR space programmes?

 

[MrMan]

Well there is a contradiction there. Should something that is being forced upon people be 'forced to stop'.

My point was 'force' should not be used.

Wasting money on Irish language publications which nobody reads only wastes money and harms the environment.

I wouldn't have thought that the space programmes were exactly environmentally friendly. Plus the billions that are spent annually to fund very little progress would tend to go against your argument. If the main point of your argument is environmentally based, I think there are far worse offenders for you to concentrate your energy on.

but I just don't get the hatred of your native tongue here.

Either do I , sometimes i just think its lazy and ignorant for people to so casually disregard their culture.

 

[rabbit]

I wouldn't have thought that the space programmes were exactly environmentally friendly. .

No, but at least there were spin off benefits. I remember having a calculator when I was youing , and if it were not for the r+d spent in the 60's I do not think we would have had calculators in the late seventies.
Likewise satellites etc.

Anyway I do not want the argument to go off on a tangent in to space ! My point was "If all the govt. publications in Irish language - which nobody really reads - were stacked on top of each other, they would reach from here to the moon and back seventeen times. Great use of resources / wood / ink / energy distributing them etc."

 

[rabbit]

Really? Care to substantiate that - e.g. money spent on teaching Irish versus, say, the US or USSR space programmes?

I said time ( " I am sure more time was wasted in Ireland over the decades trying to force Irish in to kids than was ever spend on any space programme anywhere."), not money. At a guesstimate, say an hour a day by say 600,000 people ( who are engaged in teaching or being taught ) is a hell of a lot of time. 600,000 hours a day is equivalent to 75,000 people working an eight hour day....I doubt if either the US or USSR space programme absorbed that much time but I am open to correction.

 

[ClubMan]

I said time, not money. Say an hour a day by say 600,000 people is a hell of a lot of time.

Even measured in man/person days of work I would be very surprised if a space programme did not come out on top. But if you have some evidence that this is not the case feel free to cite it.

 

[rabbit]

Even measured in man/person days of work I would be very surprised if a space programme did not come out on top.

You think more than 75,000 people a day worked 8 hour days on the space programme ?

To get back to the point, my point was "If all the govt. publications in Irish language - which nobody really reads - were stacked on top of each other, they would reach from here to the moon and back seventeen times. Great use of resources / wood / ink / energy distributing them etc."

 

[truthseeker]

You think more than 75,000 people a day worked 8 hour days on the space programme ?

Yes - when you take into account the teams designing, building, testing the spacecrafts themselves, government dapartments involved, media, R&D teams, astronauts plus training, mission control, building the facilities from which the space crafts themselves were launched, scientists involved from start to finish, the fact that many people involved would have worked far longer than 8 hour days etc.... I would think its quite possible that more man hours were spent on it.
And each of the above would have commanded a higher salary than someone teaching Irish so its also quite possible that it cost a lot more - you dont get whole teams of world class scientists and engineers working cheap.

 

[ClubMan]

"If all the govt. publications in Irish language - which nobody really reads - were stacked on top of each other, they would reach from here to the moon and back seventeen times. "

How did you work this out? Maybe that IS the Irish space programme? No need for dem new fangled carbon nanotubes begob! We'll build our space elevator from books!

 

[bullbars]

I wouldn't have thought that the space programmes were exactly environmentally friendly. Plus the billions that are spent annually to fund very little progress would tend to go against your argument. If the main point of your argument is environmentally based, I think there are far worse offenders for you to concentrate your energy on.

Either do I , sometimes i just think its lazy and ignorant for people to so casually disregard their culture.

I think you've hit the nail on the head Mr Man. Our economy has come so far that people quickly forget the past and what it took to get us where we are today. Many european children are bi-lingual from an early age and have no problem with it.

I note there was no protest against the other 5 or 6 useless leaflets, in english/polish/chinese or any language for that matter, that are constantly shoved through the post box.

The majority of those advances for the space program and indeed the majority of the appliances we use each day stemmed from the second world war so should we give that another crack of the whip and see what handy appliances it yields.

 

[bullbars]

How did you work this out? Maybe that IS the Irish space programme? No need for dem new fangled carbon nanotubes begob! We'll build our space elevator from books!

The secrets out now!

 

[Purple]

Yes - when you take into account the teams designing, building, testing the spacecrafts themselves, government dapartments involved, media, R&D teams, astronauts plus training, mission control, building the facilities from which the space crafts themselves were launched, scientists involved from start to finish, the fact that many people involved would have worked far longer than 8 hour days etc.... I would think its quite possible that more man hours were spent on it.
And each of the above would have commanded a higher salary than someone teaching Irish so its also quite possible that it cost a lot more - you dont get whole teams of world class scientists and engineers working cheap.

I think it's more than quite possible. For example over 40'000 people worked on the Manhatten Project (to produce the first H-Bomb).
NASA spent over $18.5 billion in 2007. I don't think we spend quite that much teaching Irish (or printing Irish literature).

 

[bullbars]

I think it's more than quite possible. For example over 40'000 people worked on the Manhatten Project (to produce the first H-Bomb).
NASA spent over $18.5 billion in 2007. I don't think we spend quite that much teaching Irish (or printing Irish literature).

Agreed, its nothing more an anti-Irish language attitude masquerading as an environmentally friendly front.