Stormont 'Gobbledygook' Cuts People Off - Campaign

Stormont politicians use "gobbledygook" in official documents to put a wall between themselves and the public, the founder of the Plain English Campaign has said.

The Belfast Telegraph newspaper sent four current consultation papers to Chrissie Maher, the woman who founded the campaign in the 1970s.

The papers were from Caral ni Chuilin's Department of Culture Arts and Learning (DCAL), Stephen Farry's Department of Employment and Learning, Nelson McCausland's Department for Social Development (DSD) and Edwin Poots' Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSP)

Ms Maher gave the highest score – a miserable six out of ten – to DCAL for its document on how best to promote the Irish language.

And she said: "The papers you showed me often use words like nine-foot walls to cut off communication. They could so easily make it easier for readers with proper editing. When people don’t want you to understand they often clothe the message in waffle, old-fashioned language and quasi legalistic words. These particular documents may have been written with the best intentions, but they don’t show proper consideration for their intended audience."

Stephen Farry's Steps to Success consultation scored just one out of ten for readability, and the Plain English Campaign team said it was "full of industry jargon and business speak" that was inappropriate for its unemployed audience.

The team believe cutting out jargon and improving the writing style in such documents would save money and boost the response rate.

(NE)