‘Bilingual forms wasting money’
“FANATICS” in the Welsh Government are wasting money by insisting forms are sent out in both English and Welsh, it has been claimed.
Vale of Glamorgan councillor Kevin Mahoney has said communications such as forms being sent out in Welsh out of “political correctness” are just ending up in the bins of people who do not use the language.
He also accused the Welsh Government of creating a “bubble” around the Welsh language and “discriminating” against the 85% of the population who do not speak it.
Cllr Mahoney called on the Vale Council to contact every home in the region to ask them if they want their communications in only English, in only Welsh, or both.
He said: “They are ensuring all these Welsh-language forms that are not required are immediately put in the bin.
“Why would you want to do that on a point of political correctness? Surely it would be better to spend that money elsewhere. I would rather it be spent learning the Welsh language than being chucked in the bin.”
The council is required by law to treat English and Welsh on an equal basis.
At a meeting of the Vale of Glamorgan Council on Wednesday, Cllr Mahoney asked how many calls in Welsh were made to the Contact One Vale Call Centre over the past 12 months and how much literature in Welsh has been returned to the council.
He was told there were 240,021 calls to the contact centre in the 12 months leading to July 2018 and 1,956 of those were in the Welsh language – a total of 0.81%.
Information on the amount of Welsh literature being returned was not held centrally, he said.
Cllr Mahoney told the meeting: “Wouldn’t it be better if the Vale contacted every household to ask them if they want their stuff in only English, in only Welsh, or both, rather than pander to the language fanatics who would see all that stuff dumped in the bin when I would like to see it spent perhaps on subsidising Welsh language lessons, which currently cost £149 for a 10-week course.”
Plaid Cymru councillor Ian Johnson said: “I thought that we were past the point where local politicians tried to make Welshspeakers feel second-rate just for receiving services in their language of choice. Welsh-speakers pay their taxes and deserve equal quality of service.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Eighty-six per cent of people in Wales believe the Welsh language is something to be proud of.
“We agree with them and make no apologies for promoting its use or complying with the law around the Welsh language.”