No Rootless Colonists: Na Gaeil-Phrotastunaigh (2003)

Despite their origins as colonists and planters the Protestants of Ireland, North and South, have put down deep roots and have been central to the story of the Irish Language for over four hundred years. Drawing on John Hewitt's memorable phrase, documentary-maker Louis Marcus re-assesses the position of the Planter Protestant in Ireland particularly in relation to the preservation and promotion of Irish language and culture. How many are aware that Queen Elizabeth I commissioned an Irish grammar and paid for the development of the Irish typescript so that it could be published? The English dilemma - whether to develop the Irish language to promote Protestantism or to obliterate it to effect the Anglicisation of Ireland - was a perennial source of contention.