Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former Dundee lord provost says money for Gaelic promotion could be better spent

Former Dundee lord provost says money for Gaelic promotion could be better spent

Dundee’s former Lord Provost has slammed controversial plans to promote the Gaelic language.

The scheme would see translations added to road signs as well as consultations over getting Gaelic into the mainstream education system.

The move is part of the Scottish Government’s Gaelic Language Act 2005.

Perth and Kinross and Fife councils have begun discussions about similar proposals to Dundee on their website, and Angus Council is set to follow.

However, the topic has caused huge debate, with former Dundee Lord Provost and former education convener Mervyn Rolfe questioning the city council’s plans.

He said: “I don’t think that spending public money on road signs with Gaelic translations can be considered a good idea.

“Although I do think learning any language is a good idea and should be encouraged, a focus should be put on languages that are used in schools currently rather than introducing new ones.VIDEO: Watch how four people in Dundee got on trying to speak Gaelic“I think there’s a lot more sensible ways that they can spend the money, with food banks and courses that could be put on to help create employment.”

Mr Rolfe was among a huge number of people who joined the Courier debate online, with a mixed reaction from readers.

Chris Grant commented on our Facebook, agreeing with the councils’ plans.

He said: “Like it or not it is part of our cultural heritage and is an asset in many ways.”

Peter Leimich also took to Facebook to voice his opinion that Dundee was not the right place to introduce the proposals.

He said: “In the areas that have spoken Gaelic historically, yes. But Dundee, like the rest of the east coast, has never spoken Gaelic.”

Another reader Sheila Kelly added: “Maybe they don’t need to spend the money on street signs but should improve accessibility to learning the language for adults and it should be on the early learning curriculum for children.”

As the plans were revealed, another effort to push the language with the online community was revealed by Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

The two organisations will produce an online thesaurus which contains more than 4,000 terms and is aimed at Gaelic speakers, learners and schools.