Wednesday September 10th 2025
Road sign showing Gaelic near Meadowmill
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
East Lothian councillors have questioned whether Gaelic is more important than teaching children to navigate Artificial Intelligence or computer coding as they backed a legally required plan for the next five years.
Councillors were being asked to approve the Gaelic Language Plan for the local authority which sets out their commitment to using and enabling the use of, Gaelic in relation to its main business functions.
But while council leader Norman Hampshire told the meeting of the council’s administration cabinet the plan was a legal requirement for all local authorities, he acknowledged a public consultation on it had drawn criticism of the need for it in the county itself.
A report on the draft plan revealed that less than 40 people commented on the plan with many questioning why it was even being drawn up in East Lothian, where lowland Scots rather than Gaelic would have been spoken in the past.
Councillor John McMillan, East Lothian Provost, said that while the plan might seem a ‘luxury’ to some people it was important to support it with ‘good grace’.
He said: “It is not just about education, it is about learning and if we encourage our young people to learn a wee bit of Gaelic it might also encourage them to larn the skills they need for the future, learning a language means listening, it means repeating, it means all sorts of things that are necessary for learning whether it is a computer language or artificial intelligence.
“We have to do it so let’s do it with good grace and welcome that part of the culture and encourage those who do want to learn.
“I think while the paper may seem to some as a bit of a luxury I have no hesitation in supporting it.”
However fellow cabinet member Councillor Colin McGinn questioned whether it should be a priority for the council.
He said: “I absolutely want to show respect to people within the county and Scotland who see Gaelic as their way of communicating and it is something we should safeguard.
“That being said, there is part of me that says in terms of education and learning and young people and support, I wouldn’t prioritise this given a free hand.
“We mention coding for example, or AI, these are the areas I want to be having a discussion about, are these the areas we should be prioritising for young people, should they be placed higher in terms of the Gaelic Language Plan.
“I will support the paper however priorities will need to be considered down the line.”
Council leader Norman Hampshire said he agreed with both councillors adding: “We have to do this and I am confident we will do as much as we can with the resources we have available.”
Earlier this year a report on the 2022 census revealed the number of people with Gaelic skills in East Lothian has nearly doubled over the last 14 years with 1, 396 residents above the age of three stating they have some ability to use the traditional language.
It added out of those, 638 said they spoke Gaelic with 452 people who said they could speak and read but not write Gaelic and 385 Gaelic literate speakers while 15 people said that Gaelic was their main language.
Councillors unanimously backed the plan.
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