‘Bíodh reifreann in Éirinn faoi stádas na Gaeilge nó seastar le cearta teanga mar is cóir’ – saineolaí dlí idirnáisiúnta

Tá molta ag saineolaí idirnáisiúnta ar chúrsaí dlí gur cheart do bhaill an Oireachtais reifreann a ghairm faoi stádas bunreachtúil na Gaeilge nó seasamh le cearta teanga an tsaoránaigh.

In alt atá scaipthe aige ar gach ball den Oireachtas, áitíonn Gwynedd Parry, Ollamh le Dlí agus Stair an Dlí in Ollscoil Swansea, gur ar éigean go bhféadfaí ‘stát dátheangach’ a thabhairt ar Éirinn toisc gan ceart a bheith ag saoránaigh ar ghiúiré le Gaeilge.

Níl an ceart sin ag an saoránach Éireannach toisc cinneadh na Cúirte Uachtaraí maidir le héileamh fir as Ros Muc i gConamara go mbeadh a theanga dhúchais, an Ghaeilge, ag baill an ghiúiré ina chás a bhain le hionsaí a dhéanamh ar dhuine eile, ar chainteoir dúchais Gaeilge é chomh maith.

San alt, ‘Is Ireland a bilingual state?’, atá scríofa ag Gwynedd Parry, agus a fhoilseofar go luath i dtréimhseachán dlí, déanann sé cáineadh láidir ar chinneadh sin na Cúirte Uachtaraí go mbeadh sé míbhunreachtúil giúiré le Gaeilge a cheadú i gcás a bhaineann le cainteoir Gaeilge, in ainneoin stádas bunreachtúil na teanga.

Dar le Parry, fágann an cinneadh sin sa chás Ó Maicín v Ireland go bhfuil Éire ‘ag crosbhóthar’ maidir le cearta teanga agus gan de rogha fágtha ach ‘to abandon its commitment to bilingualism or to honour it fully’.

Sa chás go seasann baill an Oireachtais le cinneadh na Cúirte Uachtaraí maidir le giúiréithe dátheangacha, molann Parry dóibh reifreann a ghairm agus leasú a dhéanamh ar Airteagal 8 de Bhunreacht na hÉireann. Tá foclaíocht nua molta ag Ollamh na Breataine Bige a mhaolódh stádas bunreachtúil na Gaeilge:

‘Article 8 (as amended)

1. The first official language of the Republic of Ireland is English. 

2. The Irish language is also recognised as an official language.’

Bheadh sé de bhuntáiste ag an bhfoclaíocht nua, a deir Parry, go gcuirfeadh sé deireadh leis an gcur i gcéill maidir le polasaí oifigiúil an Stáit i leith an dátheangachais.

‘Such a formula would reflect the slightly inferior status of Irish and would thus justify a policy of linguistic inequality…Who knows, it might finally lay to rest any pretence the Irish state residually holds about being a bilingual state,’ a scríobhann Parry san alt a fhoilseofar go luath ar an Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly.

Is í an rogha eile a chuireann Parry faoi bhráid bhaill an Oireachtais maidir leis an mbreithiúnas i gcás Ó Maicín v Ireland ná go leasófaí an dlí chun cur ina choinne. Ach an rogha sin a thabhairt, dhéanfadh an tOireachtas ‘a thiomantas a dhearbhú d’fhís bhunaidh an Stáit’ maidir leis an teanga agus leasófaí an dlí chun go mbeadh an ceart ann ar ghiúiré dátheangach.

Molann Parry do bhaill an Oireachtais ar fad breithiúnas Adrian Hardiman sa chás ‘Ó Maicín v Ireland’ a léamh. Ba é an Breitheamh Hardiman an t-aon duine de chúigear breithiúna a sheas le hiarratas Uí Mhaicín ar ghiúiré a mbeadh Gaeilge acu.

Molann Parry breithiúnas easaontach Hardiman mar ‘one of the most remarkable dissenting judgments in the history of Irish law’.

Sa bhreithiúnas sin, dúirt an Breitheamh Hardiman:

‘The effect of Article 8 of the Constitution is to establish Ireland as a bilingual State in terms of the Constitution and the laws. It is a historical truism that official Ireland has always been reluctant to behave as if the State were indeed, in law and in practice, as well as in constitutional theory, a bilingual State. But that does not take from the fact that Ireland is, by its Constitution, a bilingual State. The Judges, of course, are bound to uphold the Constitution.’

Cuireann Parry cur chuige na hÉireann i leith cheist na ngiúiréithe dátheangacha i gcomparáid le cur chuige Cheanada, áit a ndéantar cosaint láidir ar cheart an tsaoránaigh ar ghiúiré a bhfuil a rogha teanga oifigiúil acu.

Is údar imní d’Ollamh na Breataine Bige chomh maith go mbeadh cur chuige na hÉireann mar ‘fheasach contúirteach’ nuair ba cheart dóibh cur chuige Cheanada a ghlacadh chucu féin, dar leis.

Áitíonn Parry go bhfuil tábhacht ar leith le ceist na ngiúiréithe dátheangacha in aon stát dátheangach, nó in aon stát atá in ainm is a bheith dátheangach.

‘Some may respond to this paper by claiming that it amounts to condemning the Irish state’s bilingualism on the basis of a single issue. The reply is that, firstly, to be tried by a court of justice in your official language and by a tribunal which understands your official language is the hallmark or the litmus paper indicator of true state bilingualism.

‘It is a right and privilege that only sovereign people in their sovereign state can expect to enjoy. It is the right which distinguishes the status of Welsh or Irish in the UK from French in Canada or Finnish in Finland.’

Deir Parry go bhfuil ceist na ngiúiréithe dátheangacha in Éirinn ina comhartha sóirt ar ‘malaise’ níos doimhne an Stáit maidir le cearta teanga a ghéilleadh.

‘Having been the subject of repeated judicial scrutiny, perhaps it is high time that this matter is subjected to democratic scrutiny. Is it not time for the Irish people to decide the sort of bilingual state theirs should be?’ a fhiafraíonn Parry ina alt ‘Is Ireland a bilingual state?’ atá scaipthe aige ar bhaill uile an Oireachtais.