Bilingualism & Speaker of the House: Essential or Optional?
In today’s day and age, it’s rare to have a political appointment that doesn’t carry some level of controversy—irrespective of the legislative body. At the conclusion of last year, this rang true for the newly elected Ceann Comhairle (Speaker of the House) of the Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish Legislature), Verona Murphy.
The Teachta Dála (TD) for Wexford is the first woman elected to the role of Ceann Comhairle, marking a historic moment for Ireland. But, as this glass ceiling broke, Murphy’s selection also reignited her somewhat controversial past regarding her opinions on immigration. At the time of her remarks, her former party, Fine Gael, and its counterpart, Fianna Fáil, dismissed her views “as ignorant”, despite Murphy’s swift apology. The comments ultimately led to her de-selection as a Fine Gael candidate, thus propelling the Ramsgrange native to become an independent in Ireland’s 2020 general election. Murphy received enough support to take one of the five seats up for grabs in Ireland’s southeasternmost county, and with almost 22% of the vote, was selected to represent Wexford once again in 2024. Despite this somewhat contentious history between Murphy and “the identical twins of Irish politics”, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil needed independent support to form government and, as a result, recommended their parties nominate her for Ceann Comhairle.
While the dynamics of Murphy’s selection as Ceann Comhairle—and its historical significance—have generated much discussion, this article shifts focus to a different, more recent issue intersecting with Murphy: language.
Three weeks ago, a heated exchange occurred in the Dáil when Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the opposition party Sinn Féin, of “telling lies”. This verbiage conflicted with Dáil restrictions, placing the responsibility for addressing the indiscretion squarely on the Ceann Comhairle. The issue? Murphy was unaware of Martin’s slight because it had been made in Irish. This led to a conversation between the Taoiseach and the opposition that grew increasingly tense, culminating with Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty insinuating Martin “took advantage” of Murphy’s lack of Irish.
Although not a novel concept, this incident has highlighted the importance of understanding the Irish language in certain governmental roles, particularly that of Ceann Comhairle. Beyond enforcing parliamentary decorum, the cultural significance of the representative managing political debate understanding the first official language of Ireland holds considerable importance, especially given the country’s growing investments in promoting Irish.
A fundamental component of this effort was the introduction of the Official Languages Act of 2003, which is a comprehensive piece of legislation that increased “the obligations on public bodies to promote the use of Irish language across their services”. Further amendments to this Act were signed into law by Irish President Michael D. Higgins in 2021, including the requirement of public institutions to respond to inquiries on social media in the official language they were received, correspondence being sent out in Irish only or bilingually, newly established public bodies being named in Irish, and services provided by third parties now being in the purview of the Act.
This Act has also greatly influenced the Government of Ireland’s policy objective titled 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030. The plan, in summary, was to increase the number of families using the Irish language daily, provide necessary support to the Gaeltacht, increase visibility of the dialect, and, where practical, ensure citizens have the ability to choose either English or Irish when engaging public services.
Two of the tangible targets outlined in the strategy were to increase the number of people with an understanding of Irish to two million and to grow the number of daily speakers to 250,000. The first objective is close to being achieved, as the number of Irish speakers grew to 1.9 million as of the 2022 census, a 6% increase from 2016. However, the share of people who could speak the language “very well” was just 10%, and those speaking it daily decreased by 2%, now representing only 72,000 individuals across the country.
These objectives underscore the government’s appetite for promoting Irish and its daily use throughout the country. They’re committed to elevating the language in every aspect of society and providing it with the space it so well deserves. The question, then, is whether the role of Ceann Comhairle falls within said space?
Across the Atlantic in Canada, while not a perfect analogy, is an interesting reference point in the debate on bilingualism in politics. Canada recognizes both English and French as official languages, with the former being more widely used across the country. With this said, over eight million Canadians speak French, representing almost one fifth of the population. Québec, Canada’s most culturally distinct province, is home to seven of the eight million Francophones in the country, with the latest figures estimating that 85% of its population speaks French daily. Québec is also the country’s second most populous province with an electorate that is “unpredictable” and, as such, is central to any political party’s success in federal elections. Just recently, Member of Parliament Chandra Arya, who had launched his Liberal leadership campaign, dismissed the need for French if he were elected Prime Minister. Shortly thereafter, his party informed him that he would not be permitted to run as a candidate.
Not being bilingual in both official languages—whether as Speaker of the House or Prime Minister—is a bygone era in Canada. Québec is too politically valuable, and the cultural importance of French extends from coast to coast. While the Official Languages Act of 1969 outlined an expectation of functional bilingualism for certain governmental roles, there is no specific law mandating knowledge of both English and French for either the Prime Minister or Speaker of the House. Today, it’s simply understood that any credible candidate must have the linguistic ability to navigate both languages.
Historically speaking, one must go as far back as 1968 to find a Prime Minister who wasn’t at least somewhat bilingual (former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson). When considering the Speaker of the House, the last unilingual official was English-speaking John Allen Fraser, serving from 1986 until 1993. This is not to suggest that everyone serving in either capacity since then has had an exceptional command of their secondary language—as Canadian writer and columnist L. Ian MacDonald put it, these individuals weren’t always able to communicate at the “level of Shakespeare or Molière”—but they could manage.
The recent spat in the Dáil has prompted some to consider whether bilingualism should be a prerequisite for whoever occupies the rostrum of the lower house. Ultimately, the question on whether the Ceann Comhairle must know Irish is one that will be decided by the electorate in the years ahead. If Canada offers any insight, it reveals that although a law may be seen in certain circles as a little excessive, the institutionalization of an unwritten rule is a very real possibility—one that could see the era of a unilingual Ceann Comhairle coming to a close.