Irish Speaking Barman leaves job after being told ‘not to speak’ Irish

An Irish speaker from Co Kerry has left his job as a barman in a Cork city pub The Flying Enterprise after the owner informed him that he did approve of him speaking Irish on the premises.

Cormac Ó Bruic, from an Fheothanach in Corca Dhuibhne, said he left his job at The Flying Enterprise following a disagreement with owner Finbarr O’Shea. He said he was told he could not speak Irish in the bar which is located near the South Gate Bridge in the city.

“He was shouting at me and banging on the table, because I stood up to him and told him I wasn’t going to stop.  He told me then to go back to work, but I told him that I couldn’t,” Cormac told RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta yesterday. “I couldn’t go back working for that man after him saying that.”

Mr O’Shea allegedly told Mr Ó Bruic he had received complaints from customers and his pub was an “an English speaking business” and he had no permission to speak Irish in the pub.

Cormac decided to leave the job because he had a principled objection to being told not to speak Irish. “The thing I’m most proud of is where I come from and my native language.”

A statement published on the pub’s Facebook page on said: “We wish to clarify that Cormac was not fired or dismissed nor did we intend to fire or dismiss Cormac in this regard. However while Cormac did initially engage with the HR process he decided to leave before the process was concluded.”

“We currently employ up to seventy people and of them there are six different nationalities who all speak their native language. They respect that while at work the most sensible and practical language to speak is English.”
The statement said it was a HR issue and that it would be “unfair to Cormac if we were to discuss an internal HR matter publicly.”

The statement said it was a HR issue and that it would be “unfair to Cormac if we were to discuss an internal HR matter publicly.”