Gaelic sign spending row casts shadow over Mod worth £1.5m

Published on Thursday 7 October 2010 17:18

GAELIC's premier event, the Royal National Mod, comes to Caithness today for the first time in the event's 118-year history with some in the area still critical of spending on the language.

More than 2,000 competitors and 8,000 spectators will provide a late season boost to the county's economy which is due to benefit by 1.5 million.

But while businesses will embrace the language and culture over the next week, the visit of the Mod follows opposition from some councillors about spending on Gaelic education and bi-lingual road signs.

Yesterday bunting and welcome signs were being erected in Wick and Thurso where accommodation is at a premium at a normally quiet time of year in the far North.

The event has also been boosted by the news that Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay, will attend next Thursday to present the prestigious Gold Medals to competition winners.

Raymond Bremner, chairman of the local organising committee and a former Gold Medal winner, said: "The Mod has booked the place out. There are still beds available but in outlying rural areas.

"There is a big uptake of local interest in events. Not only is this out of season, but we have so much national attention being focused on Caithness so its a real chance for the local groups and Gaelic organisations to raise their profile to an audience that would not normally be available to them coming to their doorstep.

"The attendance of Prince Charles just heightens that."

Councillors in Caithness have sought to exclude the county from a Highland-wide policy of erecting bilingual English-Gaelic road signs, and argue the area has more Norse traditions than Gaelic.

There has also been criticism of council and government spending on Gaelic medium education as well as 35,000 for a Gaelic development officer for Caithness and 80,000 for a consultant to prepare a Gaelic plan for the NHS.

Last year the education secretary Michael Russell accused the critics of "prejudice" towards the language and said some of the comments had "shamed" Scotland.

Mr Bremner said: "I haven't heard anything about this issue for about nine months. We were wary as the Highland Council policy on bi-lingual signage was coming to the fore at the same time as the bid was being made to take the Mod to Caithness.

"Since then we've had to put distance between the two issues. People are now much more aware of what the Mod is about."

He said he hopes the event will improve the standing of the Gaelic culture while showing there is a commercial advantage in embracing the language.

Councillor John Rosie, one of the critics of Gaelic spending, said "I have always been comfortable with the Mod coming to Caithness, in fact I'm quite looking forward to it.I'm also looking forward to welcoming so many people to the area."

"There will be a lot of money spent which I'm pleased about, particularly for the hotels, guest houses and shopkeepers as its a good back end of the season boost for them."

But he said the possibility of changing attitudes towards Gaelic spending in the long term was a "forlorn hope".