With this in mind, Gaelic-speaking residents in Brussels – or those passing through – are being invited to attend the Irish English bilingual Claddagh Toastmasters Club which meets on the first and third Thursday of every month.

Claddagh Club mentor Denis Buckley is keen that Scottish Gaels become involved in the club.

He hopes there will be a lot more toasts and after dinner speeches in Scots Gaelic 'over a good glass of Scotch'.

Denis stated: "Toastmasters, as part of their 20 year club development plan, are on their way to becoming a household name in Belgium as a communication, leadership and integration organisation that transcends languages and all cultures. Brussels, the Capital of Europe, is a microcosm of the European Union where there is a strong desire towards cross-cultural communication and integration.

"The plan is to create over 80 community and corporate clubs in Belgium and the initiative in Brussels is to create 25 bilingual clubs with English as the operational administrative language and with a language of each EU Member state."

Denis went on: "This multilingual club building program is ongoing - the Claddagh English-Irish/Scots Gaelic club served as the model club and now the Black Forest English - German club, Berlaymont English - French Club are up and running. The Armada (Spanish/English and the Atomium (Dutch – English) are in the process of being formed. It is planned to have a Polish/English and a Hungarian/English club from September 2009.

"Due to the ongoing success of the project, it is hoped that the Toastmaster's bilingual club concept will be adapted for Welsh/English and Scots/English bilingual clubs in the UK," said Denis, a former European Champion in public speaking and founder Editor of Anam Beo, the first Irish language newspaper in Brussels.

Denis believes that the introduction of Scots Gaelic/English bilingual clubs in Scotland and its islands will transform the use of Scots Gaelic as a spoken language.

"Once 10 Scots Gaelic clubs are registered, all the training and leadership materials will be printed in Scots Gaelic by the American based Toastmasters International. This will serve as a great boost to the language and what's more we will have a lot more toasts and after dinner speeches in Scots Gaelic over a good glass of Scotch. If one thing is certain, Scotch and Scots Gaelic will long flow when all the oil around the coast will long be dried up!"

He went on: "Every club develops its own culture and characteristics in response to its members' particular needs and diversity. To establish a club, at least 20 members would be necessary to officially get started. Normally a group meets twice a month," said Denis,

If you are a Scots Gaelic speaker and would like to visit Claddagh Toastmasters Club or start such a club, look at www.toastmasters.org and seek advice from Denis J. Buckley at claddagh.toastmasters@gmail.com.

Added Denis: "The time has come for you to take the lead and strike a blow for Scotland and its national language and form a community bilingual club."

Said another member of the club: "I am not a Gaelic speaker myself but I wish to support the language in any way I can as I think it extremely important for the health and wellbeing of Scotland as a nation. I hope that the publicity generated by the Stornoway Gazette can bring to the Claddagh our first Scots Gaelic speaker with the eventual long term project of a bilingual club.

"The Caledonian Society of Brussels will be holding a Burns Supper where each table is hosted by an MEP. Let me know if there is anything to be done or said to promote the Gaelic cause," she added.