46. Colonel NEWMANasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to a decree issued by Dail Eireann that, after a specified date, the registration certificates of births, marriages, and deaths, and other similar official forms, shall be in Erse; is he aware that in Erse the spelling has little or no relation to the sound, and that as many as six consecutive letters are grouped together to represent one vowel sound; and, in order to mitigate the inconveniences of the decree to British nationals, will he consult the President of Dail Eireann as to the feasibility of some modernisation of the Erse dialect for official use?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Churchill)I understand from a Press report of the proceedings of Dail Eireann that the specified date referred to in the hon. and gallant Member's question is July, 1923. It is impossible to forecast what progress may have been made by that date in the 839 general knowledge of Erse, or what changes may have taken place in the orthography of that language.
Colonel NEWMANHas the right hon. Gentleman seen what a Welsh name like that of the present President of the Irish Republic looks like when translated into Erse?