I am calling BS on this whole letter. No one of childbearing age was barred from using Irish by LAW in either the republic or the north. Places in the north discouraged it and schools might have snapped to 'speak proper English' as they did to me and my fellow students in Scotland speaking Scots but on break times? At home? Walking down the street? No. I don't know what LW expected to gain here but this is based on lies and can't be true.