Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Since the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922, successive governments have struggled to revive the Irish language. Everything from compulsion to bribery has been tried, but the sad fact is that the number of native Irish-speakers in the Republic of Ireland today is a smaller fraction of the population than it was at independence. At various stages over the past 80 years, Taliban-like linguistic movements have emerged preaching radical solutions to the problem, but these humourless ideologues have all been rejected by the vast majority, who are content to speak their Hibernian variety of English.

Three young Irish guys find themselves in a hip downtown New York club. The somewhat intimidating bartender insists that they do something "Irish" (singing, dancing) and in desperation one of the lads strings together a series of random phrases vaguely remembered from more than a dozen years of "learning" the Irish language. The Carlsberg ad says it all.

Is maith liom cáca milis ("I like pastry"), declares the anxious lyricist to the astonishment of the cosmopolitan crowd. The ancient tongue of the druids and bards soon works its magic and when the speaker is making his moves on the dance floor, he bedazzles his partner with Ciúnas bothair. Cailín bainne. ("Quiet road. Milk girl."). The clip is subversive in how it indicts 80 years of failed language policy. But that's a scéal (story) for another lá (day). Meanwhile, Rainy Day wishes a happy and early Lá Fhéile Pádraig to all its readers, especially those in the Caribbean.