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I am old enough to remember the introduction of an litriú núa and cló romhánach in the 50s.
Just to be clear - the authorities didn't introduce an Cló Rómhámach in the 50's. It had been used, along with an Cló Gaedhealach, since the 19th century at least. What they did do was to dump an Cló Gaedhealach - no longer using it in publications and phasing out teaching it in schools.
Any older person with whom I've discussed the matter has (without a single exception I can recall) spoken fondly of the script as one of their favourite parts of learning Irish at school.
My mother can still write her name very elegantly in it.
I've been reading and writing the Irish script for years now. When I first started I assumed it would be difficult for anyone to read it at the same speed as the Roman type, indicating lenition with
h, as surely it would be harder for the brain to register the presence, and absence, of those little dots. I assumed wrong. I can honestly say I have no trouble whatsoever in that regard. Typos involving the dots/poinnc are instantly obvious too.
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The de Baldy dictionary of 1959 didn't help either. It introduced Anglicised words where perfectly long-standing Irish ones were available - a trait that still continues to this day.
The tendency has been - since about the time of the publication of De Báldraithe's dictionary - towards neologisms/technical vocabulary increasingly drawn directly from English. Often these words are used in preference to (and have sometimes ousted) previously established indigenous terms eg.
sprionga for
tuailm or
lingeán,
plútacrátachas for
maoinfhlaitheas,
reifirméisean 
for
athleasughadh (creidimh) etc.
Why are these forms prefered?
Because most material published in modern Irish is
translation of one kind or another - either the conventional translation of pre-existing English texts or translation of a writer's own English language thoughts.
Irish is moving away from being a medium of thought and composition and towards being a code into which English is translated.
The large scale importation of English terminology is driven by the requirement seen by some to facilitate this.
Easily recognisable Gaelicisations of familiar English terms, with exactly corresponding semantic range, are a lot easier for these 'translators' to deal with than distinctly Irish words or [heaven forbid!] multi-word phrases with their own semantic ranges.
Added to this is a notion pertaining to English which should have no bearing on Irish:- that neologisms formed from native elements are somehow 'unnatural' or anachronistic and the obsession of eccentric language purist types (e.g. 'Anglish' enthusiasts).
It's true that in modern English neologisms are normally formed from Latin or Greek elements and using a term like 'far-seer' for 'television' - equivalent of the German 'Fernsehen' - wouldn't be natural in modern English. But this is
not the case with modern Irish where constructing new words from existing native elements is a normal part of the modern language.
The results of all this stick out like sore thumbs in modern dictionaries and on the like of focal.ie.
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Bheinn ábalta sgríobh ins an t-sean-leitriughadh fosta ach b'fhéidir go mbeadh sé deacair ag na foghlaimeoirí, ach amháin má tá foclóir Dinneen acu agus má tá siad ábalta 'n sean-leitriughadh a léigheamh
Bidheann iongantas orm nuair a tchíom an oiread daoiní arbh fheárr leóbhtha 'n sean-leitriughadh :-) Dá ndéanfasmaid achainidh (?) fá dtaobh dó sin agus dá seólfasmaid chuige'n Rialtas í, an síleann sibh go n-éisteóchthaidhe linn agus go dtiocfasmaid ar aist ar an t-sean-leitriughadh mar leitriughadh oifigeamail?
(tá eagla orm nach nglacfadh na foillsightheóirí ná 'n Roinn Éadóchais leis...)
Ca'na thaobh a mbeadh orainn athchuinghe a sheoladh chun an riaghaltais? Ní leo an Ghaedhilg ach le lucht a labhartha. Ní cás leo í ach a oiread, de réir deallraimh.
Is mór an earráid í, dar liom-sa, bheith ag brath ar phoiliteoirí agus ar státseirbhísigh leas na teangan a dhéanamh.
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