By Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin A year of political and official public consultation on the Gaelic Crisis publication has yielded little of consequence for the remaining communities of vernacular Gaels. The report concluded that the decline of Gaelic as a community language in the islands has reached the point of societal collapse and that, under current circumstances, no native-speaking Gaelic community, in any meaningful socio-geographic density, will survive beyond this decade anywhere in Scotland. Official bodies with responsibility for Gaelic promotion remain in denial about the severity of the challenges facing these communities. Despite the issues highlighted in the report, and the calls for action among the community, there has been no clear official statement recognising the level of crisis, nor any admission of the need for significant strategic reform to halt the loss of remaining Gaelic social geographies in the islands.
Under existing and extremely challenging circumstances, Gaelic public bodies will soon outlive Gaelic communities. This outcome, despite over a generation of official Gaelic promotion, is analysed in our recently published Scottish Affairs article on ‘Moving beyond Asocial Minority-Language Policy’, co-authored with Iain Caimbeul. The inadequate strategic response to the Gaelic communities in crisis has its origins in four inter-related issues: the emphasis on the institutional status of Gaelic rather than on cultural and socio-economic development for Gaelic communities; the limitations of the 2005 Gaelic Act, as seen in the questionable relevance of poorly verified public authority Language Plans; the atomisation of Gaelic culture, whereby capable individuals benefit from the opportunities which the institutional promotion of Gaelic has provided; and the ideological acquiescence by key Gaelic power brokers in the sectoral provision of the Gaelic status quo.
GAELIC policy in Scotland will soon outlive Gaelic communities, experts have warned, as they called for an urgent change of approach. Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin and Iain Caimbeul, a former chief executive of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said Scotland s Gaelic language policy risks becoming part of the problem . In a new academic paper, they argue existing policy is contributing to the decline of Gaelic communities. Mr Ó Giollagáin, who is director of the University of the Highlands and Islands’ (UHI) Language Sciences Institute, previously led a major study that warned Gaelic-speaking communities are at risk of dying out within a decade.
That was the stark conclusion of a book-length study published in the summer. But momentum is building to reverse this decline, and those at the top are open to radical proposals. Scotland’s Finance Secretary Kate Forbes told The Herald she would support the idea of housing developments reserved for Gaelic speakers. She fears parts of the Highlands and islands could become retirement villages or ghost towns amid a rise in second homes. Ms Forbes, a fluent Gaelic speaker, emphasised the importance of communities driving change, but said there’s certainly an appetite in the Scottish Government to “do whatever it takes”.