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The Gaelic Language Bill
Consultation Paper
Section 3: A Gaelic Bill
There is a significant history of support for Gaelic language legislation.
In December 1997, Comunn na Gàidhlig, the Gaelic development body, submitted
a report to the Scottish Office containing a series of proposals for legislation
to support the Gaelic language.
This publication, Secure Status for Gaelic (Inbhe Thearainte dhan Ghàidhlig),
outlined the conclusions of a Comunn na Gàidhlig Working Group on Status.
Comunn na Gàidhlig's publication contained a range of measures which
they proposed should be incorporated in legislation on Gaelic. In July 1999,
Comunn na Gàidhlig presented a Draft Brief for a Gaelic Language
Act (Dreach Iul Airson Achd Gàidhlig), at their Annual Congress.
In 2000 the MacPherson Report, commissioned by Scottish Ministers, recommended
that a Gaelic Development Agency should, inter alia, facilitate the process
of secure status for the language. More recently, the Ministerial Advisory Group
on Gaelic, chaired by Professor Donald Meek, set out further detail on the role
and position of such a Development Agency. The Advisory Group also supported
the case for legislation and recommended that immediate action be taken to develop
and implement a Gaelic Language Act. The subject of a Gaelic Act has also been
the focus of petitions, correspondence and press interest.
In November 2002, late in the life of the first Parliament, a Member's Bill
on Gaelic was introduced to the Scottish Parliament. This Bill aimed to require
certain public bodies to publish, maintain and implement plans based on the
principle that the Gaelic and English languages should be treated on a basis
of equality as far as was appropriate in the circumstances and reasonably practical.
The Education, Culture and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament took
evidence on the Member's Bill. The evidence showed that there was strong support
for a Gaelic Language Bill to secure and protect the Gaelic language. The Committee
Report into the Bill also supported the principles of the Bill and made recommendations.
At the Stage 1 debate in Parliament, notwithstanding a number of express reservations
about particular aspects of the Bill, the general principles of the Member's
Bill passed unanimously. Lack of time meant the Bill fell towards the end of
the last session of the Parliament.
The commitment to provide secure status for Gaelic through a Gaelic Language
Act was confirmed in the Partnership Agreement for a Better Scotland
and then in the First Minister's statement on the Executive's legislative programme.
'We believe that the Gaelic language is important to all of Scotland and is
a unique part of our culture and heritage. To underpin the support that we will
give to the language, we will legislate to give Gaelic secure status - enshrining
the Gaelic language in Scots law for the first time.'
Gaelic has traditionally been linked with the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
The Member's Bill from last session in Parliament emphasised this association
by suggesting that the requirement for Gaelic plans for public bodies should
apply initially only to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Strong opposition
to this was expressed when the Bill was at committee stage in the Parliament.
The Census results from 2001 show significant Gaelic communities in urban and
lowland Scotland. This is not a new phenomenon as Gaelic communities and institutions
have been found in Scotland's cities since the eighteenth century. The Education
Culture and Sport Committee's Report on the Member's Bill stated, that 'the
committee is firmly of the view that the duty to prepare language plans must
apply to the whole of Scotland'. The Bill described in these pages is presented
on a Scotland-wide basis.
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