SCOTTISH Gaelic is about to achieve a new status within Europe which will extend its use into many more areas of Scottish life, perhaps even into island courts.
This follows the confirmation in Parliament yesterday that the Government had agreed to sign the Council of Europe Charter for Regional or Minority Languages with the intention to specify Gaelic in Scotland under Part Three.
The Scots Language will be covered by the less exacting Part Two.
Brian Wilson, Minister with responsibility for Gaelic, told The Herald yesterday that there were still a few technical details to be sorted out but Gaelic would be ready to be listed in the charter by the autumn. He was convinced it prove a highly significant development for the language and culture: ''This is a tremendous step forward in establishing the status of Gaelic and the other languages. It is something which was resisted on principle by the previous administration but has been pursued very positively by the Labour Government.
''In the short-term it is more about recognising existing rights than creating new ones. However I would expect it to be a critical building block in establishing beyond doubt the status of the Gaelic language within Scotland.
''It is a tribute to the Gaelic-speaking people of Scotland who have maintained, developed and made demands on behalf of the language, that we are in a position to sign up to the provisions of the Charter.''
His enthusiasm was shared by Comunn na Gaidhlig's Donald Martin, who is secretary of the Scottish sub-committee of the European Bureau of the Lesser Used Languages: ''This is a first step, but it is something we have been pressing for over a long period. It will mean that Gaelic will receive a status that it hasn't received before. By signing up the Government is committed to a number of measures that have to be discussed and decided. Measures under education; the judicial authorities, where they have to decide what has to be done in using Gaelic in the courts; in the adminstrative authorities; public services; the media; cultural activities, economic and social organisations.
''The Government has to accept a minimum of 35 paragraphs from the 65 in the Charter's Part Three. A lot of them already apply to Gaelic, for example government support for Gaelic broadcasting and Gaelic-medium education. But there are others which don't.''
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