Broadcaster and former Fine Gael TD Ivan Yates has come in for some heavy criticism for comments he made about the Irish language on Virgin Media in recent days. Television presenter Brian Dowling has also been condemned for his actions during the segment.
The incident occurred on an episode of The Six O'Clock Show that aired on Thursday evening, with Yates appearing as a guest alongside Síle Seoige.
When presenter Fionnuala Jay opened up to the well known Gaeilgeoir about her own journey in learning Irish, the 64-year old Wexford native made his own feelings on the language known.
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Ivan Yates & Brian Dowling criticised for Irish language comments
When asked if he knew any Irish, Ivan Yate made some rather disparaging remarks about the language. Bizarrely, those words were met with an approving handshake from presenter Brian Dowling.
You can see the incident below.
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
I couldn't be arsed to learn Irish. I'm sorry if you're offended.
All this money we put into it and there's only 16,000 people in the country that speak it naturally.
I'm not against it.
Not a good look. Brian Dowling would also joke about subtitles being needed when Síle Seoige began to converse in Irish.
The original clip would be shared on the official Twitter account of The Six O'Clock Show, only to be deleted after receiving heavy backlash.
At a time when the Irish language is experiencing a resurgence among younger generations, these comments have certainly not gone down well.
"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
Maybe Ivan Yates and Brian Dowling feel a bit embarrassed that they don't speak Irish so they deal with this by affecting an exaggerated distain for the language? Why else would Ivan make false claims about the number of Irish speakers? https://t.co/7Eo0UK9kZH
— Colm Ó Broin (@colmobroin) February 13, 2024
Not sure how popular this is going to be but it’s time that Ireland realised that some things just aren’t worth the investment they receive, and after all these years of putting up with them, it’s time they should just be allowed to die off.
Things like Ivan Yates https://t.co/9yCxlFYqUf— Gerry McBride (@GerryMcBride) February 12, 2024
Síle Seoige responded admirably to the comments, with her response about how the language is very much thriving in her local community in Spiddal clearly disproving his original point.
The 2022 census showed a six per cent increase in people who could speak Irish in the country in comparison to the 2016 edition. The language has certainly experienced a resurgence among younger people, with 63 per cent of those aged 15-19 saying that they could speak the language 'very well'.
As well as that, Irish would also overtake French as the most popular second language in Northern Ireland's A-levels in 2023.
Perhaps Ivan Yates would be wise to consider such figures before spouting this type of nonsense.
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