While appearing on a TV programme with Síle Seoige, Yates said he “couldn’t be arsed to learn Irish”.
Broadcaster and former politician Ivan Yates has reiterated controversial comments he made on TV last week regarding the Irish language.
Yates appeared as a guest on The Six O’Clock Show on Virgin Media Television, alongside TV presenter and fluent Irish speaker Síle Seoige.
The pair were interviewed by presenters Brian Dowling and Fionnuala Jay and during the episode, the conversation turned to the topic of the Irish language.
This led to Dowling asking Yates: “Are you kind of Gaeilge?” with Yates replying: “Níl focal ar bith agam. I couldn’t be arsed to learn Irish and I’m sorry about it if you’re offended.”
At this point, Dowling stood up and reached over to Yates to shake his hand.
Yates then added: “All this money we put into it and there’s only 16,000 people in the country speak it naturally now. I’m not against it”.
Immediately taking issue with the former minister’s comments was Jay and Seoige, with the latter stating: “I’m not even going to have this debate with Ivan. This is what he does.
“He just likes to wind people up. Stir the pot.”
She also said: “[The Irish language] isn’t dead. It’s very much alive. It is having a resurgence. Thank you very much.
“And it is intertwined in our Irishness. It’s in our culture. It’s in our heritage. It’s who we are.”
A clip of the interaction was shared by Virgin Media on social media, before being taken down after a backlash to Yates’ comments.
That said, videos of the segment of the programme are still being circulated online.
You can watch one such video right here:
Nothing is really deleted on the internet. Here’s the handshake buachaillí in action.
Dowling & Yates ? https://t.co/kjkAtcmsRO pic.twitter.com/hVX7PdLiCU— Craic Of The Ash (@CraicOfTheAsh) February 12, 2024
Ivan Yates reiterates comments on Irish language after controversial TV appearance
And you can also view some of the negative responses to Yates’ comments below:
I posted about this earlier but the video I shared was deleted, but we all know the internet never forgets!
Lose your language, lose your heritage. If people don’t want to learn it, fair enough but don’t be disparaging about it. It should be encouraged.
pic.twitter.com/LUNwHGHLD6— Global Gaelic Games (@Global_GAA) February 13, 2024
Ivan Yates: “I couldn’t be arsed to learn #Irish”
& Brian Dowling stands up and SHAKES HIS HAND.How #colonised can you be?
Can you imagine any other minority group being treated with such open disdain?
Only in #Ireland… pic.twitter.com/sj1YqIEYds
— Ciara Ní É ?️? ‘knee YAY’ (@MiseCiara) February 13, 2024
Ivan Yates – Fine Gael TD for 21 years, a former Minister, sat on the FG Front Bench.
The decline of the Irish language throughout the 20th century was not by accident, it was because people in power had attitudes like this. https://t.co/01sCFaKCoa
— Ciarán Ó Meachair ?? (@CiaranOMeachair) February 13, 2024
“I couldn’t be arsed to learn #Irish ,all this money we’ve put into it & there’s 16,000 people in the speaking it says Ivan Yates “.
Astounding ignorance on the @SixOClockShow#Ireland #Gaelige pic.twitter.com/5wGZDLcE5d
— L. NíHéineacháin (@LaobhaoiseNihE) February 13, 2024
Sickened to see an Irish presenter stand up and shake hands over such a comment.
Not to mention inviting a guest to talk about our national language and commenting “Have we got subtitles at some point?”@SixOClockShow deleted the post before we can see their lack of quality… pic.twitter.com/JGeEQkHlhb— Em-Barra-zzed (@Barbarascocks) February 12, 2024
If this was 18 years ago Gift Grub would already have released a duet of Ivan Yates and Brian Dowling singing “Aon Focal Eile”
— Mark Durnin (@MarkDurnin) February 12, 2024
Speaking to The Journal on Tuesday, Yates reiterated his comments, telling the outlet that he is “not bothered by Twitter spats” before saying: “If anyone watched the programme, they’ll see that I was on to speak about politics and the power of podcast.”
The former minister stated that he has “no problem with Síle Seoige or anyone else” but that he believes “we need to have an adult conversation about the resources allocated to the Irish language”.
He also questioned whether it would be better that the resources committed to the Irish language be instead allocated towards healthcare or childcare.
“I think it’s worthy of a national debate and not one that’s left to zealots. The people and organisations who get defensive about Irish every time this is brought up,” Yates also stated.
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