No Irish in the House of Commons

In the 1900 General Election, Thomas O’Donnell was elected as an Member of Parliament for West Kerry. He had previously worked as a teacher but became involved in politics through advocating for tenants rights through the United Irish League.

On 19 February 1901, O’Donnell was scheduled to make his first speech to the House of Commons. That morning the House had been discussing a speech made by recently crowned King Edward VII, a subject that would ordinarily not have been well attended by the Irish Party MPs as it did not concern them. However, prior to entering the chamber that morning, O’Donnell informed his colleagues that he would be giving his speech as gaeilge: in Irish. This ensured that nearly a full quorum of Irish MPs was present at this debate.

O’Donnell began his speech in Irish, saying “As an Irishman from an Irish-speaking constituency, a member of a nation which still possesses a language of its own, and is still striving bravely for freedom, I deem it my duty to address this House in my own language”. However, he was swiftly interrupted by the Speaker of the House, William Gully, who objected to the use of a “a language with which I am not familiar”. O’Donnell continued speaking and Gully further interrupted, insisting that MPs were not allowed to “address the house in any other language than English.”

 transcript of February 1, 1901 House of Commons debate where Thomas O'Donnell spoke Irish. Transcript was amended by Irish Party members and Irish text was added.
Subsequent amendment of House of Commons transcript by Irish Party members

Although parliament records have been kept in great detail since 1800, the text of O’Donnell’s speech in Irish was left blank. To this day the House of Commons has left out his words in their official transcripts, simply because they were spoken not-in-English.

Official UK government transcript of February 1901 House of Commons speech where Thomas O'Donnell spoke Irish.
Section from Address In Reply To His Majesty’s Most Gracious Speech
Volume 89:
debated on Tuesday 19 February 1901

The current House of Commons transcript only acknowledges that O’Donnell spoke once before being interrupted, with no note as to what language he was speaking in. However, all contemporary reports observe that O’Donnell kept speaking for some time , through multiple interruptions.

Report from the New Zealand Tablet from April 11, 1901, outlining the attempts to speak Irish by Thomas O'Donnell and how many times he was interrupted.
New Zealand Tablet, April 11 1901.

After much debate, O’Donnell did not finish his speech, electing to be silent in protest at being required to not speak Irish. The debate boosted the cause of the Irish language greatly, and though the speech was indeed a calculated move to raise the profile of the Irish language, it was specifically done so in response to linguicism. Previous discussion in the House of Commons about the Irish language had led to accusations that support for Irish revitalisation was irrelevant and fake because the Irish MPs did not speak Irish.

In the days after the speech, O’Donnell said to a reporter:

“Over a million people, or a fourth of the population of Ireland, speak the Irish language, and do the greater part of their business transactions by means of that tongue. The taunt has been flung across the floor of the House that the Irish members in advocating the cause of the Irish language were urging the claims of a language which they themselves were unable to speak. To refute that charge I thought it my duty, if for no other reason, to address the House in Irish.”

Report from the Ravalli County Democrat, March 6, 1901 titled "Irish activity in Parliament" reporting a subsequent interview with Thomas O'Donnell about why he spoke Irish.
Ravalli County Democrat, March 06, 1901

While it is significant that the language spoken by an elected MP was not included in the official records, and that it wasn’t until 2018 that Irish was used in the House of Commons again, the greater issue is that of systemic linguicism: prejudice against language use and language skills. For centuries Irish was minoritized and marginalised by the English language, with concerted attempts at eradication made on the basis that Irish was vulgar and barbaric. Without the systemic repression of Irish by the English language, it would not be necessary to revitalize Irish, nor to make such a stand in parliament.

O’Donnell chose to give the speech in Irish as a direct response to a common practice of linguicism: accusations that people who support a minority language don’t really speak it. This, like many practices of systemic linguicism, serves to reinforce the superior value of the dominant language and keep minority languages in their place: spoken only in the margins of society. Had O’Donnell or any other MP spoken in German, for example, the response would have been likely very different, despite the conventions cited to reject Irish being the same.