Let’s face it, folks: Ireland now has three official languages, not two, and it’s time we adjusted the Constitution accordingly. Article 8 of our Constitution states that: “The Irish language as the national language is the first official language.” And that: “The English language is recognised as a second official language.” No mention there of the vernacular, our unacknowledged, unrecognised, but passionately used “third official language”. It’s even more popular than Polish now, officially, the third most frequently spoken language in Ireland. Even more so was a realisation that it was spoken at all levels of Irish society, among all classes. And of course the F-word, Father, the bad F-word.
