6. Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Teaching the History of Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:44 pm on 19 June 2019.

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Photo of David Lloyd David Lloyd Plaid Cymru 4:44, 19 June 2019

I was quoting the Croatian national linguistic experience.

Cofiwch Dryweryn—let me bring you forward a few millennia, David. The recent outbreak of murals to remember the forced removal of a Welsh-speaking village in 1965 to provide water for Liverpool—water that that city then subsequently did not use in the teeth of fierce opposition. That long-standing wall in Ceredigion, in the Llywydd's constituency, was recently vandalised, as we all know. And people say, 'But, people know about Tryweryn, surely—don't they?' Well, Bridgend council don't. They claim 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' is an advert and needs planning permission. People need to know the history of Wales. It shouldn't depend on individual teacher experiences. And let's not be afraid. People say the history of the majority of British culture is education—1066 and all that—whereas the history of Wales is ideology. Surely not. An inconvenient truth, perhaps. Welsh history is an inconvenient truth, but education nonetheless. Diolch yn fawr.