A county councillor in Donegal has defended the daubing with red paint of English language road signs in the county, claiming that the people who are doing it are taking "a moral stance."
Independent Councillor Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig, who is chairperson of the Irish language Committee in Donegal County Council, told RTE's Drivetime that he supports the action.
"I think it’s very right; I think it’s a very moral stance to take," the councillor said.
"I see signage on our roads with gunshots through them, I see them with sexual references on a lot of them.
"I see stupid other things written on them as well and nobody seems to care about that until somebody in the Irish language community decides to take a moral stand when we watch our community and our language die.
"Most of them are being daubed in red paint in the border area, in the middle of the county and some within the Gaeltacht itself.
"The majority of them are outside the Gaeltacht and that itself says something."
The councillor claimed that there is a high percentage of people who are "extremely hostile" to preserving the Irish language and that Donegal is being marginalised on several fronts.
"There is a county up here, way up north that they seem to forget," Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig added.
"We’re a county that is socially and economically deprived.
"Our wage structure is one of the lowest within the 26 counties. We have a beautiful Gaeltacht community that is dying.
"In my village last week, we lost seven people. How can we sustain a community and keep a language alive?"
