About us
The Esperanto Association of Ireland (EAI) is the official organisation for Esperanto speakers and supporters on the island of Ireland. Its main purpose is to promote the use of Esperanto as a neutral, easy-to-learn international language and to support the Esperanto community locally and globally.
EAI is politically neutral, except in matters directly related to its mission. It is the national member organisation of the World Esperanto Association (Universala Esperanto-Asocio), a non-governmental organisation headquartered in Rotterdam which has special consultative status with the United Nations and UNESCO.
Our perspective
Many people assume that the question of a common international language has already been resolved in practice. They point to the widespread use of English in tourism, education, commerce, and international communication.
However, this situation is neither neutral nor equitable. It gives significant, unearned advantages to native speakers of English, while requiring others to spend many years learning a difficult language—often at considerable cost—only to remain at a structural disadvantage. Meanwhile, minority and non-dominant languages and cultures, including many varieties of English, are pushed to the margins by global economic pressures. These forces are largely unregulated and fall outside democratic decision-making.
Ireland has direct experience of linguistic inequality: the Irish language itself declined to near extinction and survives today only thanks to active, deliberate support.
Our principles
