A young Irishman quit his job after his boss told him he couldn’t speak Irish when he was at work.
Cormac Ó Bruic was told by his boss that “this is an English-speaking business” but he refused to back down and instead quit his job.
Cormac is from Co Kerry and had worked at The Flying Enterprise pub in Cork for eight months.
He explained what happened to RTE’s Raidio na Gaeltachta: “Another man from home was working with me, so every day I’d have a chat with him for maybe five minutes in Irish.
“Lots of customers would tell us that it was lovely to hear the language spoken, especially to hear young people using it in Cork.
“The owner told me I wasn’t allowed to speak Irish in his pub. 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.
“I couldn’t work for anyone who would tell me that I wasn’t allowed to speak Irish.”
“I speak English as well, and I was also speaking English, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t understand me.
“In my mind I have to stand up for the language.”
Cormac never returned to work again saying he wouldn’t work for his boss on principle.
He received a letter in the post telling him that his employment had been terminated.
The letter stated: “(The manager) spoke to you as a result of a number of complaints received from people who felt uncomfortable at the bar because you were communicating in Irish.
‘It was explained to you that this is an English-speaking business, and while working on the premises all staff need to speak in English.”
Man quits job after boss tried to ban him from speaking Irish
