New media and blogs catching on in Ireland

One of the much under-noticed trends in the history of Ireland's traditionally conservative and State-dominated media is the emergence of a number of exciting and user-generated websites that are challenging the Brian Dobson/Six One News style of reporting that's been lulling Irish audiences into a dinner-time coma for years, and offering a new and exciting take on the nation's tumultuous political and current affairs.

Among the several recent startups I've recently noticed in this category, Newswhip, TheJournal.ie, and Joe.ie stand out as good examples of this new media Zeitgeist that's putting the power of expression back into the hands of the Irish media consumer and out of the boardrooms of Donnybrook, where Ireland's main State-sponsored broadcaster is based.

These websites sometimes amount to little more than further grumbling at our incompetent government, something which is already supplied in abundance by the mainstream media, but often also produce excellent criticisms and analyses of current affairs, and best of all, stinging and very funny satire.

Parallel to this promising development, which makes following the news a lot more interesting, has been the emergence and continued growth of blogs in the Irish blogosphere.

A recent feature in the Irish Examiner, a Cork-based broadsheet, featured ten of Ireland's most promising bloggers, one of the most prominent pieces on blogs in the mainstream Irish print media in recent years. The article noted that blogs have moved from the domain of the quirky and eccentric and into the mainstream, which is something I've also noted as a student at an Irish university. Blogging/Tweeting (which is really micro-blogging) are no longer the preserve of the marginalized and lonely and it's now socially acceptable - if not quite yet cool - to run your own blog. Although there's been an accompanying measure of reluctance on the part of some parts of the Irish population to embrace this new medium (most notably, universities), it seems that more and more people are taking to Wordpress, Blogger, and whatever other media they can find to get a load off their chest.

Some will say that this amounts to little more than what psychologists call 'talk therapy', but even if that be the case, what harm can come of it? The Irish gift of the gab is now carrying over into digital discourse, and that for me has to be for the betterment of society as a whole.

Despite all the blogging and website-making though, Irish political revolt and opposition seems to have remained confined to the desktop computers, comfy offices, and monitors. The type of street protests that took place in Greece after that country's financial implosion never really happened here, despite an unprecedented recession and a partial loss of sovereignty. But at least there'll be more people to talk about that, if only online, and surely that's a positive.

Future of compulsory Irish hangs in doubt

The future of compulsory Irish-language education is now hanging in doubt after opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour have confirmed that they're planning to follow different stances on the controversial issue in the lead-up to the recently announced general election.

Currently the teaching of Irish - Gaeilge in the native tongue - is compulsory right up to and including the Leaving Certificate, Irish high schools' finishing exam which is broadly equivalent to the College Board SATs.

The current position has garnered much criticism over the years. Underachieving students and those with no competence for languages find themselves struggling for years with a language that they cannot master, while many others, including those who speak to the language proficiently -ironically, including Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny himself- simply hold the position that maintaining its mandatory status is both inefficient and unfair on students.

This is a blog after all though, so I'll throw in my two cents as someone who finished the Irish high-schooling system just two years ago.

Personally, I'm in favour of Enda Kenny's plan to make Irish/Gaeilge optional after the Junior Certificate, the first exam in the Irish high school system, broadly equivalent to the PSAT in the American system.

I agree that Irish should remain compulsory up to a point, in order to preserve Irish culture, national heritage, etc, but once students reach the age of 16 surely they should be given enough autonomy to make that decision for themselves, rather than having the language foisted upon them like a hapless burden.

I think the biggest argument in favour of Enda's policy, though, is that Irish is so dismally taught across the board. Compare and contrast. Like most students, I learned Irish for 14 years (2 years pre-primary; 6 years primary school; 6 years secondary school). By the end of that time I finished up with an A2 in Higher Level but with a fairly poor oral command of the language, and certainly miles away from anything near fluency. I learned Spanish in an immersion school in Marbella for two months. By the end of that period I could read, write, and speak Spanish fluently.

If the government is going to continue to force Irish students to learn Irish they should undertake to ensure that it's taught in such a fashion that can ensure fluency after 14 years of study. Otherwise I agree with Enda Kenny that it's unfair and wasteful to force poor quality Irish education onto students who could be learning other subjects instead.