Population shut out by the use of Welsh

ON January 30 I caught a clip of a heated argument between Carwyn Jones and members of Plaid Cymru at the Senedd on the 6.30pm BBC Wales news.

It would seem democracy in progress and in full throat, except for the fact it was conducted in the Welsh language.

This means that 80% of the population were excluded from the rancorous debate.

We are aware that to be employed at the Senedd you now have to speak Welsh, which makes the heart of government, in essence, a white person’s preserve, but do all the AMs have to speak Welsh too?

I’m not available to sit in the public gallery to witness the Welsh Government’s “democratic” process so perhaps one of your newspaper’s political correspondents could enlighten the rest of us as to what extent Welsh is used exclusively, thereby shutting out most of the population and, I assume, many of our elected representatives?

Dennis Coughlin Llandaff, Cardiff

EDITOR’S NOTE: According to research conducted by Cymdeithas yr Iaith, the Welsh Language Society (published in the Western Mail January 8) Assembly Members – on average – spoke Welsh 12% of the time in plenary meetings. It found Plaid Cymru’s Arfon AM Sian Gwenllian has spoken Welsh 99% of the time during plenary sessions in the Senedd since being elected in 2016. First Minister Carwyn Jones, who is fluent in Welsh, has used the language less than the average, at 10% of the time, while Culture Minister Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ use of Welsh has fallen from 95% in 2015 to 73% in the period since the last election. The full article, which listed all AMs’ use, is available on our website, Wales Online. A Welsh Government spokesman said at the time: “Half of Welsh Government Ministers speak Welsh and use it on a regular basis in the Chamber and when carrying out government business.”