A couple of years ago I asked the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) via one of its social media platforms what it was doing by way of a Gaelic Language Plan, a document that outlines how organisations and public bodies will help to promote and use the Scottish Gaelic language (GÃ idhlig), in line with requirements set out by the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-is-national-records-of-scotland.html). To give examples of such plans, my local authority here in East Ayrshire has a Gaelic Language Plan available at https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/Resources/PDF/G/gaelic-language-plan.pdf, whilst the National Library of Scotland has one available at https://www.nls.uk/about-us/plans-and-policies/corporate-documents/. Such plans show how Gaelic can be catered for on a range of issues, none of which take away from the bodies' responsibilities to deliver services in English.
The response that I got from the NRS was that "Gaelic culture has an important place in our archive", and to demonstrate this, it pointed to a page on its website at the time describing the events of the Declaration of Arbroath. It then mentioned they also had a page about the Iolaire disaster in 1919. And that was it! There was nothing on its website about how the organisation might field enquiries from Gaelic speakers, nothing about how the language can be made more visible at the institution, nothing about resources that might be available at the archive to assist with researching Gaelic Scotland, and crucially, absolutely no sign of a Gaelic Language Plan, or evidence of how the institution is complying with such a plan if one exists.
The only other time I can point to the NRS having a connection with Gaelic is the work of the recent censuses. The 2022 census was made available bilingually, and there has been analysis of the question on Gaelic speakers subsequently carried out - as per the requirements and instructions of the Scottish Parliament, its parent agency. The 2022 census showed a remarkable turnaround for the language with an increase in the number of current speakers (albeit with a continuing fall in the Western Isles), ending years of decline.
Earlier this year, both the Gaelic and the Scots languages were granted official status in the country through the Scottish Languages Bill, which came into effect in July. The purpose of this act was to seek the protection of, and promotion of, these languages in public life and in education. As part of a talk I am preparing to give next week, I decided to check if anything had changed at the NRS via its recently updated website. A search of 'Gaelic' produced just five results, including the Arbroath piece, and an item telling the story of Angus McPhee from Benbecula who ended up in a lunatic asylum in Perth after killing his parents on the island. The Iolaire piece is no longer found there, but can be found deep in its web archive at https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20210917045704/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/node/3171.
This is just woeful, and completely not in keeping with the spirit of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 and the 2025 Scottish Languages Bill.
So some questions for the NRS.
- Do you have a Gaelic Language Plan? If so, where can it be viewed?
- If not, are you bound through some other Scottish Government agency to conform to a Gaelic Language Plan?
- If you are not subject to the requirements of a Gaelic Language Plan, why is this the case?
- Are you in the midst of creating a Gaelic Language Plan (and if so, when will this be published)?
- Are you opposed to the visibility of Gaelic at your institution?
- And following on from the 2025 act, how will you also cater for the Scots language at your institution?
It is a mark of how completely untransparent the NRS is with the Gaelic language that I cannot even state what the modern Gaelic for the archive is - is it, for example, Tasglann Nà iseanta na h-Alba (National Archive of Scotland), Clà ran Nà iseanta na h-Alba (National Records of Scotland), or something else? By contrast, the National Library of Scotland proudly displays its Gaelic equivalent on its website's home page - Leabharlann Nà iseanta na h-Alba - and the world didn't end when it decided to do so.
There are many things I would love to see in Scotland that go beyond what the NRS can do in its day to day work, which cannot be changed without additional parliamentary action, for example the right to record births, marriages and deaths in English, Gaelic or Scots, and not just in English (as was recently catered for in Northern Ireland in 2022 with regards to the Irish language). It is bizarre that a marriage ceremony, for example, can be carried out in Gaelic or Scots, but the record of the event must be in English.
But there are many things that the NRS can do to promote the use of Gaelic in its work. The NRS is a horrendously institutionalised body that cannot see beyond the borders of Edinburgh city centre. It is time to reflect the diversity of Scotland, and that includes obligations on the use of Gaelic (and Scots) in its work.
Update: A search has revealed that the NRS does not have its own Gaelic Language Plan, but apparently is bound by the National Gaelic Language Plan 2023-2028 as set out by Bòrd na Gà idhlig and the Scottish Government. So where and how is this being implemented by the NRS?
Chris
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