About the Esperanto Association of Ireland
The Esperanto Association of Ireland is the official organisation for Esperanto speakers in the island of Ireland.
The main objective of the association is the promotion of the neutral world language Esperanto.
The Association is politically neutral except for matters relating to the aims of Esperanto itself.
The Association is a constituent member of the World Esperanto Association based in Rotterdam.
Many people believe that the issue of an agreed common language or lingua franca for international communication has in practice been solved. They point to the widespread adoption of English in tourism, education, commerce and international activities across the world. However this state of affairs is creating a fundamentally unjust and discriminatory system. It is being brought about by economic pressures, largely unregulated and not subject to democratic control. The system grants privileges to native speakers of English and requires everyone else to spend years trying to acquire English. Even then they may remain at a disadvantage to native speakers. Meanwhile their own languages and cultures become second class and increasingly disadvantaged on the world stage. This is true also for varieties of English, which differ from the dominant version spoken in the United States of America, the world's most powerful economy.
The adoption of the fairer solution offered by Esperanto requires a wider and deeper appreciation of the destructiveness of currently uncontrolled forces. The Esperanto movement has most recently set out the context for an equitable and efficient solution in its Prague Manifesto, reprinted here. The qualities of the Esperanto language itself are referenced within these web pages in the section labelled 'Language'. Alongside are listed some more immediate Association aims.