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News from Celtic League

GS Urges Branches to Call for Breton Reunification

The General Secretary (GS) has written to the French authorities ahead of a planned demonstration in Nantes this Saturday (28th June 2014) in support of Breton reunification.

A tweet by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in the run-up to Scotland's independence vote has been countered by the Manx government. His tweet includes a map which shows the Isle of Man (Mannin) as part of the United Kingdom with a message from David Cameron saying: 'By staying united we have much more to share and much more to gain'. Unfortunately for Cameron he does not even seem to know which Nations are in the United Kingdom! A tweet from the Manx government has pointed out that the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom and asks for the map to be corrected.

The Faeries must have been at the pints of the President of America's prestigious Council of Foreign Relations during his many trips to Belfast in his capacity as the Chair of the “Northern Ireland Inter-Party Talks Dealing with Parades, Flags and the Past”. Mr Haass also served as “United States Special Envoy to Northern Ireland.” This icon of the American power structure is reported in multiple news accounts declaring in favour of the Irish tongue being made an official language of Northern Ireland.

As reported by Transceltic in April of this year, the Welsh government’s response to issues raised in two separate independent reports on the future of the Welsh tongue were attacked by the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) and the Party Of Wales (Plaid Cymru). At the time Robin Farrar, Chair of the Welsh Language Society, characterised the government’s response to the findings of two separate commissions as a “complete farce”, stating: “They (the Welsh Government) continue to delay and refuse to make important changes.  They have chosen to ignore or reject any recommenda

The website "The Press and Journal" under the headline "Bumper Line-Up For Provincial Mod" reports that the Inverness provincial Mod (a celebration of Scots Gaelic culture and language) has attracted a record number of participants. The event in Inverness is one of 21 Provincial Mods held throughout Scotland leading up to the National Mod held this year, also in Inverness, the second week of October, 2014.

An awards ceremony has been held in Cardiff to recognise and honour health care workers who provide quality health care in the Welsh tongue.  This ceremony comes in the context of the recent report from Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws which highlighted concerns raised by Welsh speaking patients about healthcare services provided in their own language.  

The annual Ned Maddrell Lecture took place this year at Tynwald Mills in St John's with guest speaker, Finbarr Bradley, discussing The Manx Creative Edge: Why Authenticity and Place Matter.

Scholars from the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic College, will attend the “Rannasachadh na Gaidhlig”, an academic conference sponsored by the University of Edinburgh.  The biennial academic conference, first held in 2000, promotes research on “...all topics related to Gaelic as well as to promoted research through the medium of Gaelic”.

The Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure has announced that the government will continue to fund the Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF).  The announcement comes in the context of the growing strength of the Irish language in Northern Ireland evidenced by the recent increase in the number of students enrolled in Irish medium education.

The campaign for the reunification of Nantes and Loire Atlantique with the rest of Brittany continues to gain pace. The French establishment remains determined to keep the Loire Atlantique separated from other areas in Brittany. This separation was undertaken against the wishes of the Breton people in 1941 by the Vichy regime. With the regional reorganisation currently being discussed by the French government a golden opportunity to correct this wrong is being missed.