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Gaelic gets less official “respect” than English           12/10/14

Criticism that Gaelic is considered an inferior language in its own country was highlighted at the opening ceremony of the Royal National Mòd in Inverness.

John Macleod, president of An Comunn Gàidhealach,used his annual address to point out that Gaelic still does not receive “equal respect” to English.

The Scottish Parliament granted the language official recognition through the Gaelic Language Act 2005.

Its aims were to encourage the use of the language and make it more accessible.

The then Scottish Executive watered down a bid to secure ‘equal validity’ and replace it with a call for “equal respect.”

Mr Macleod said: “If our political representatives decided, quite rightly, in 2005, that Gaelic deserved to be given equal respect to English, why have we not seen much progress over the past nine years in achieving that?

“For example, why was it impossible for the authorities to accede to a request from more than 700 Gaelic supporters that a simple question of only six words in the ballot paper in the Scottish Independence Referendum should have been in Gaelic as well as English?”

“That would have been a clear example of an intention to give effect to the agreed principle of ‘equal respect’, but it was refused without adequate explanation.

“Although we have seen progress in Gaelic, we still have a long way to go before the principle of ‘equal respect’ is fully accepted in Scottish life.”

Mr Macleod also highlighted how interest in Gaelic language and culture is growing, in particular in cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness thanks to the establishment of dedicated Gaelic schools.