Amadáin na Míosa – The UK Passport Office

Tá roinnt amadán féideartha ar an liosta faoi láthair ach seo ceann nach dtiocfadh liom dul thairis. Cé nach bhfuil baint dhíreach aige le Cassidy, tuigfidh léitheoirí an bhlaig seo go gcreidim go láidir i gcearta teanga lucht na Gaeilge. Creidim fosta i gcearta den chineál chéanna do lucht labhartha na Breatnaise, Ghaeilge na hAlban agus teangacha mionlaigh eile na teangacha seo a úsáid go saor, gan bhac gan chosc.

Tá pas Éireannach agamsa agus ligeann an pas sin dom m’ainm a bheith i lár báire ann, litrithe mar is ceart i nGaeilge mhaith. Shíl mé i gcónaí go raibh na cearta céanna i gceist le pasanna na Breataine agus dá mbeadh duine ón Bhreatain bheag darb ainm Siôn ap Rhŷs nó Albanach darb ainm Dùghlas MacLeòid nó bean ó na Sé Chontae darb ainm Máirín Nic Néill ag iarraidh pas Briotanach a fháil agus a n-ainm litrithe mar is ceart ina dteanga féin, nach mbeadh fadhb ar bith ann. De réir cosúlachta, bhí dul amú orm!

Níl tú i dteideal d’ainm a bheith litrithe mar is ceart agat i nGaeilge, i nGaeilge na hAlban ná i mBreatnais, más amhlaidh go bhfuil carachtar ann nach bhfuil le fáil sa Bhéarla. Is léir nach bhfuil fadhb theicniúil ann, mar níl fadhb ag tíortha eile san Eoraip (na Sé Chontae agus Fiche san áireamh) ligean do dhaoine a n-ainm a litriú le cibé diaicritic nó fada nó aiceann atá de dhíth. Ní hé sin é. Am éigin na blianta ó shin, rinne na focairí faisisteacha seo socrú randamach gan a gcearta daonna a thabhairt do dhaoine agus gan ligean dóibh a n-ainm a litriú mar is ceart. Agus ní hé sin a dheireadh! Nuair a amharcann tú ar a suíomh gréasáin (https://passportapplication.service.gov.uk/help/html/pages/10.05_01_name-to-appear_en.html), míníonn siad é ar an bhealach seo:

If your name has a special character or accent mark please enter your name using a normal letter eg e instead of é or a instead of ä etc.

Á, sin an fáth ar shocraigh sibh leatrom a imirt ar mhionlaigh dhúchasacha theanga! Mar nach bhfuil siad normálta! Go raibh míle maith agaibh as sin a shoiléiriú dúinn …

Tá súil agam ó chroí go ndéanfaidh daoine an t-alt seo a athbhlagáil agus go scaipfidh siad an scéal chomh fada agus is féidir, agus tá súil agam go dtógfaidh duine éigin, áit éigin, na bastaird seo go dtí an Chúirt Eorpach um Chearta an Duine.

Ní bheidh pas Briotanach agamsa choíche, ach creidim go daingean go bhfuil an ceart ag daoine a úsáideann teangacha Ceilteacha mar phríomhtheanga a bhféiniúlacht a chur in iúl taobh istigh den RA agus nach bhfuil an ceart ag na faisistigh aineolacha seo bunchearta daonna a cheilt ar dhaoine ar an bhonn gur rud mínormálta é úsáid a bhaint as teanga eile seachas an Béarla.

February’s Twits of the Month – The UK Passport Office

There are a number of potential twits on the list at the moment but this is one I just couldn’t ignore. While it has nothing directly to do with Cassidy, readers of this blog will realise that I believe passionately in the rights of Irish speakers. I also believe in the rights of the speakers of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and other minority languages to use those languages without let or hindrance.

I have an Irish passport and that passport allows me to have my name spelled correctly in Irish in pride of place. I had always assumed that British passports worked the same way and that if a man from Wales called Siôn ap Rhŷs or a Scotsman called Dùghlas MacLeòid or a woman from the Six Counties called Máirín Nic Néill decided to get a British passport spelled correctly in their language, that would be no problem. Apparently I was wrong!

You are not allowed to have your name spelled correctly in Irish, Scottish Gaelic or Welsh, if that name includes a character not found in English. There’s obviously no technical problem with this, since other European countries (including the Republic) manage to allow people to spell their own names properly with whatever diacritics or accents are required. No, at some stage, these fascist arseholes simply made a random decision that they would deny people their human rights and refuse to spell their names properly. And that’s not all. When you look on their website (https://passportapplication.service.gov.uk/help/html/pages/10.05_01_name-to-appear_en.html), they explain it in these terms:

If your name has a special character or accent mark please enter your name using a normal letter eg e instead of é or a instead of ä etc.

Ah, so that’s why you’ve decided to discriminate against indigenous linguistic minorities. Because they aren’t normal! Thanks for clearing that up for us …

I sincerely hope that people will reblog this and spread it far and wide, and that someone, somewhere will take these people to the European Court of Human Rights. I will never have a British passport but I believe that people who use Celtic languages as their main language have a right to express their identity within the UK and these ignorant fascists have no right to deny people basic human rights on the basis that their decision to use a language other than English is abnormal.