Kicked out of a Taxi for speaking Irish.

nxbyveromdwjpg

tdv123 wrote: »

Eh, a hate one.

Not really a crime though is it

Nodin

nm wrote: »

Not really a crime though is it

....it sounds very like discrimination to me.

tdv123

nm wrote: »

Not really a crime though is it

In Scottish Common Law the courts can take any aggravating factor into account when sentencing someone found guilty of an offence. There is specific legislation dealing with the offences of incitement of racial hatred, racially aggravated harassment and offences aggravated by religious prejudice. A Scottish Executive working group examined the issue of hate crime and ways of combating crime motivated by social prejudice, reporting in 2004

Sounds like one in Scotland anyway.

razorblunt

Santa Cruz wrote: »

Have a trip up the Gorgie Road when Hearts are playing Hibs or Celtic and you will see how overt the anti Irish and anti Catholic sectarianism is.
Anyone who thinks an independent Scotland will be friends of Ireland are in for a shock

Lived there, did it still alive.
Hearts hate Rangers just as much as Hibs and Celtic, they've had a few Irish playing for them over the years too.

pablomakaveli

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Not at all, it's such a dire and dreary language and there hardly seems to be a week that goes by without some dull thread about the Irish language, usually descending into some tedious mess about 800 years of blah dee blah dee blah

And again all your problems can be solved by not reading the thread. Reading every thread isn't compulsory.

I've no interest on some of the other threads on the front page of AH but i don't feel compelled to read them and then post saying how much i dislike the topic.

You just come across as someone who has to have their rant whether people want to hear it or not.

anncoates

The sad fact is that given the whole political tangle of these things It's hard to know.

It's definitely more than possible that it was sectarian on the side of the driver (assuming he actually recognised they were speaking Irish) but it might also have been the case they were taking the piss maybe during a dispute or something.

I'd be a firm supporter of preserving the national language by the way.

Fratton Fred

tdv123 wrote: »

But the thread isn't about the Irish language. It's about a racial hate crime.

Why are you encouraging racist behavior?

Are the Scots and Irish a different race then?

Pumpkinseeds

poundapunnet wrote: »

See I find that kind of "what will the neighbours think" kind of attitude more cringey and indicative of an out-dated inferiority complex about what "real countries" think of us. Ireland does reasonably well with attracting foreign investment, and the twee dated image actually serves us pretty well tourism-wise, it's the poor tourists that are getting tricked there. It was more than a few years ago but a survey of American visitors to Ireland found that (I think) more than half of them cited The Quiet Man as a contributing factor to their decision to visit. Most tourists are fascinated by the Irish road signs, fag warnings etc in my experience.

And, I'd say things like our atrocious health service, drink culture, bad roads and public transport, attitude to political accountability do a lot more damage to how sophisticated and modern we appear than teaching Irish in schools or encouraging its use. The pretence that it's anything but a niche interest (let alone the official first language of the country) is a bit annoying, but not high up my list.

I live in Galway, hear it spoken a lot and I find it nice, if I've been away from the wesht for any period of time it's lovely to hear even though like I say I'm nowhere near fluent myself.

I have to disagree with you. It's not about the neighbours opinion and the country isn't doing very well. If country were to depend on tourism we'd all be out of work. There is massive unemployment and there are many people emigrating every week to seek work. That isn't what I'd consider doing well. I'd rather have a president promoting a modern Ireland than a little gobsh*te reading dreary poetry abroad. Dear Jesus he even looks like a lepracaun. How on earth could anyone find that nonsense an acceptable portrayal of Ireland?

Pumpkinseeds

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Are the Scots and Irish a different race then?

At least the Scots have a sense of humour about the English:D

Fratton Fred

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

At least the Scots have a sense of humour about the English:D

Scots and sense of humour in the same sentence?

Oops, racist post!

poundapunnet

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I have to disagree with you. It's not about the neighbours opinion and the country isn't doing very well. If country were to depend on tourism we'd all be out of work. There is massive unemployment and there are many people emigrating every week to seek work. That isn't what I'd consider doing well. I'd rather have a president promoting a modern Ireland than a little gobsh*te reading dreary poetry abroad. Dear Jesus he even looks like a lepracaun. How on earth could anyone find that nonsense an acceptable portrayal of Ireland?

In terms of the amount of inward investment and tourism we're attracting in a seriously difficult economic context though we actually do quite well. For most of the 90s and 2000s a huge amount of people from around where I live relied on tourism, the global economic climate and the exchange rate did for that, but that's eff all to do with the perception of Ireland abroad, millions of people still have Ireland on the bucket list, they just no longer have the financial means to get here. The government (not that I love them) consistently emphasise Ireland's educated English-speaking workforce, attractive corporate climate, proximity to the City.

The clichéd crazy romantic Celt portrayal of Irish people can be a bit bemusing, sure, but if we all stopped speaking Irish certain people would still play up to it and a lot of people would still lap it up.

WallyGUFC

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I have to disagree with you. It's not about the neighbours opinion and the country isn't doing very well. If country were to depend on tourism we'd all be out of work. There is massive unemployment and there are many people emigrating every week to seek work. That isn't what I'd consider doing well. I'd rather have a president promoting a modern Ireland than a little gobsh*te reading dreary poetry abroad. Dear Jesus he even looks like a lepracaun. How on earth could anyone find that nonsense an acceptable portrayal of Ireland?

The President has very little say on what inward investment comes to Ireland, and I'm sure foreign corporations don't give a f**k what he looks like when they invest here. I also fail to see how he could cause or prevent unemployment...
Personally, I'm happy to be Irish and I couldn't give a flying f**k what anybody from any other country thinks of us.

nxbyveromdwjpg

tdv123 wrote: »

Sounds like one in Scotland anyway.

No it doesn't.

*racial hatred
*racially aggravated harassment
*offences aggravated by religious prejudice

vs

"She told the taxi driver that he was out of order, and she claims that he told the group to get out of his taxi."

Come on really, hate crime?

You're quoting something from wiki that became The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) Bill, it wouldn't apply here.

I'd love to kick a few of you out of my car.

Wattle

WellThen? wrote: »

Oh COME ON. You think some Scottish taxi driver "who can't be named" was so offended at the people behind him speaking another language that he kicked them out? You think Glasgow is a city with purely English speaking people? It's as multi-cultural as the rest of Britain.Eh he's used to it, probably foreign himself. It was 2am for gods sake, they were pissed and acting the bollix. And the woman who was with them is using the irish thing as a story to sell, twat. That's what i think until i see some HARD evidence.

How do you know that they were 'pissed and acting the bollix'? It says nothing about them being drunk or drinking in that article.

mikeym

Its ok the Scots hate the English aswell.

WellThen?

Wattle wrote: »

How do you know that they were 'pissed and acting the bollix'? It says nothing about them being drunk in that article.

It seems to be the most likely occurrence being out that late and having a scuffle with a taxi man. I also said " that's what I think until I see some HARD evidence"

Nodin

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I have to disagree with you. It's not about the neighbours opinion and the country isn't doing very well. If country were to depend on tourism we'd all be out of work. There is massive unemployment and there are many people emigrating every week to seek work. That isn't what I'd consider doing well. I'd rather have a president promoting a modern Ireland than a little gobsh*te reading dreary poetry abroad. Dear Jesus he even looks like a lepracaun. How on earth could anyone find that nonsense an acceptable portrayal of Ireland?

Like I said....
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=88368607&postcount=49

Iwasfrozen

tdv123 wrote: »

Sounds like one in Scotland anyway.

He's not racist. An ásshole yes but not racist.

grenache

GaelMise wrote: »

Independant

Unfortunatly not all that surprising, plenty of people in Ireland that are just as intolerent of the Irish language.

I don't think any taxi driver in Ireland would throw people out for speaking Irish. The language they were speaking was used as a smokescreen, taxi guy is obviously a sectarian bigot who doesn't like Irish people. There's a big problem with anti-Irish sentiment in parts of Western Scotland.

grenache

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

He's not racist. An ásshole yes but not racist.

Of course he was being racist! He asked them to stop speaking Irish FFS.

Eutow

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I'd rather have a president promoting a modern Ireland than a little gobsh*te reading dreary poetry abroad. Dear Jesus he even looks like a lepracaun.

Nonsense, he has at least a foot height advantage on a leprachaun.

Paco Rodriguez

Seen similar prejudices against foreign languages in this country to not be outraged at this.

I rhink they were just trying to be smart by speaking Irish there when there is no point.

blade1

Taxi driver turned down money because they spoke Irish? Yeah Right!
He won't make much money in that line of business if he's that picky.

Fratton Fred

grenache wrote: »

Of course he was being racist! He asked them to stop speaking Irish FFS.

Are the Irish and Scots different races?

philstar

Santa Cruz wrote: »

Have a trip up the Gorgie Road when Hearts are playing Hibs or Celtic and you will see how overt the anti Irish and anti Catholic sectarianism is.

and the flip side to that.....

take a trip to Celtic park and you will see how overt the anti British and anti Protestant sectarianism is

sectarinaism in Scotland isn't one way you know

SpaceTime

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Are the Irish and Scots different races?

Race is a bit of a strange concept sometimes.
I would say xenophobia and possibly sectarianism play a bigger role in this.

Irish and Scottish (and English) people are extremely closely related according to genetic research on movements of people through Europe. Most of our DNA links back to Western France and ultimately to a group from Northern Spain. So we're not different races. We're the same group with different political outlooks and history.

However, it's all about psychology, culture and perception when it comes to racism and xenophobia and who 'the outsider' is.

The reality of the situation is that driving a taxi is subject to a licence and I'm 100% certain that licence requires you to be pleasant to passengers and not discriminate against them.

Scotland has very robust laws in areas like this. It will be investigated.

Whether it's racism, xenophobia, sectarianism, sexism, homophobia or anything else. It's discrimination against people and it's very nasty to be on the receiving end of it.

Plazaman

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

You're keeping track of my posts I find a lot of Irish gobsh*tery quite embarrassing and tedious tbh. Irish has no relevance to me or my life or to the lives of anyone I know. I just don't get the point of pumping money into it or banging on and on about it. So, some taxi driver kicked someone out of a car for speaking Irish, for all anyone knows he could've mistaken if for Polish or Swahilli. But sure why not take it personally as an affront to the Irish? More English oppression of the Irish:rolleyes: Jesus, people have little else to be worrying about.

Well then, if you think Irish is irrelevant, then there's definitely a problem with the rest of us so. Shut it down so and tell the 140,000 or so native Irish speakers, especially those in the Gaeltacht areas to cop on and learn English. History, national identity and allegience to our home Country has no business here. If it has no relevance to one person, then it should be of no relevance to anyone else. And were changing the name from Ireland to Atlantica.

walrusgumble

GaelMise wrote: »

Independant

Unfortunatly not all that surprising, plenty of people in Ireland that are just as intolerent of the Irish language.

I really hope that group put manners on that rat an or his employer and sue him for discrimination.

GaelMise

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

I rhink they were just trying to be smart by speaking Irish there when there is no point.

No point? You need some special justification to go around speaking your first language now do you?

walrusgumble

WellThen? wrote: »

It seems to be the most likely occurrence being out that late and having a scuffle with a taxi man. I also said " that's what I think until I see some HARD evidence"

Do you even have ANY evidence to base the opinion that you expressed? No