Are businesses discouraged from investing in Ireland because of the Irish language?
The Celtic Tiger was the 4th richest country in the world by 2005 estimates, 2nd in the EU behind Luxembourg. The economy of Ireland is going through a rough patch, that is certain, but unless one is making an innovative economic link between the international credit crunch, over-leveraging and Irish Gaelic, I think we can safely ignore that argument. There’s the Irish example, but also the Basque nation and Catalonia. Both have minority languages; both protect those languages; neither is on the verge of economic collapse. What about the economic gains of a New Welsh Language act? For starters, some companies who don’t currently provide much service in Welsh will have to hire Welsh speakers and translators. Job creation? As more people are encouraged to use Welsh services, more jobs could be created in this way. There’s also the likelihood that more big shops and retail shops may pick up on the fact that service in the medium of Welsh encourages the custom of 20% of the population of W
