State bodies must use the fada in a person’s name from today onwards.
Previously, the fada on a person’s name could be dropped at the discretion of any public company.
Sections 4 and 5 of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 changes that; henceforth, people called Seán will no longer see their name misspelt as ‘Sean’ which is the Irish for ‘old’ and people called Órla will no longer see theirs written out as ‘Orla’, which translates into English as ‘vomit’.
Speaking to Moncrieff, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said his party had fought “long and hard” for the reform.
“Even the amendment I had which has come into law today, that was accepted after a fight with the Minister,” he said.
“So, it wasn’t automatic. It was a fight to get where we are.
“Hopefully now, with it being more widely used, people will understand that not to put the fada in is insulting to us who [have fadas in our names].”
Sign in Irish language welcoming visitors to the Gaeltacht. August 2023. Image: Alamy.comGaeilgeoirí have been calling for the change for years and some public bodies have already made the change.
“In fairness to An Coimisinéir Teanga [the Language Commissioner], he fought with Iarnród Éireann for many years to try and get them to accept [the use of fadas],” Deputy Ó Snodaigh said.
“So, when you’re booking your seat on the trains now, you’re allowed to put the fadas in, so there’s no excuse.”
The amendment does not oblige the private sector to use the fada in a person’s name but Deputy Ó Snodaigh said in his experience many companies do it anyway.
“A lot of private companies have no problem with it,” he said.
“Especially companies from abroad… but there are other companies who seem to take the lazy approach or an ignorant approach.”
Aer Lingus, for example, does not let passengers use fadas and as a private company the legislation will not change this - something Deputy Ó Snodaigh described as “regrettable”.
Main image: A child at an Irish language protest. Picture by: Alamy.com
