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Flann O'Brien

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141-552: Brian O'Nolan ( Irish : Brian Ó Nualláin ; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), his pen name being Flann O'Brien , was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century Irish literature . Born in Strabane , County Tyrone , he is regarded as a key figure in modernist and postmodern literature . His English language novels, such as At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman , were written under

282-510: A heart attack on the morning of 1 April 1966. In a piece published a few months before his death, he also reported a secondary cancer diagnosis and hospitalisations due to uraemia (a sign of liver failure) and pleurisy: in typical good-humour O'Brien attributed this declining health to "St Augustine's vengeance" over his treatment in The Dalkey Archive . From late 1940 to early 1966, O'Brien wrote short columns for The Irish Times under

423-540: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There

564-478: A Euro Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, opened. In 2004, Hugh Brady was appointed president. In 2006, UCD Horizons begins. In 2009, Trinity and UCD announce the Innovation Alliance. In 2010, NCAD and UCD form an academic alliance. In 2012 the expanded Student and Sports Centre opened. In 2012, the college closed the athletics track and field facilities and students demanded an apology. In 2013,

705-697: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of

846-489: A base for the family during an otherwise peripatetic childhood. Brian was the third of 12 children; Gearóid, Ciarán, Roisin, Fergus, Kevin, Maeve, Nessa, Nuala, Sheila, Niall, and Micheál (in that period, known as the Gaelic Revival , giving one’s children Gaelic names was somewhat of a political statement.) Though relatively well-off and upwardly mobile, the O'Nolan children were home-schooled for part of their childhood using

987-560: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It

1128-419: A certain amount of cover for O'Nolan as a civil servant when a column was particularly provocative (though it was mostly O'Brien). The managing editor of The Irish Times for much of the period, Gerard "Cully" Tynan O'Mahony (father of the comedian Dave Allen ), a personal friend and drinking companion of O'Brien, and likely one of the other occasional authors of the column, was typically one of those pressed for

1269-542: A colleague, "in a final fanfare of fucks".) Although O'Brien was a well-known character in Dublin during his lifetime, relatively little is known about his personal life. He joined the Irish civil service in 1935, working in the Department of Local Government. For a decade or so after his father's death in 1937, he helped support his brothers and sisters, eleven in total, on his income. On 2 December 1948 he married Evelyn McDonnell,

1410-456: A column titled Bones of Contention for the Nationalist and Leinster Times under the pseudonym George Knowall; those were collected in the volume Myles Away From Dublin . Most of his later writings were occasional pieces published in periodicals, some of very limited circulation, which explains why his work has only recently come to enjoy the considered attention of literary scholars. O'Brien

1551-764: A comfortable, bourgeois life rather than romance and heroics: In 1934 O'Brien and his university friends founded a short-lived literary magazine called Blather . The writing here, though clearly bearing the marks of youthful bravado, again somewhat anticipates O'Brien's later work, in this case, his "Cruiskeen Lawn" column as Myles na gCopaleen: O'Brien, who had studied German in Dublin , may have spent at least parts of 1933 and 1934 staying in Nazi Germany , namely in Cologne and Bonn , although details are uncertain and contested. He claimed himself, in 1965, that he "spent many months in

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1692-464: A correspondence course created by his father, who would send it to them from wherever his work took him. It was not until his father was permanently assigned to Dublin that Brian and his siblings regularly attended school. O'Brien attended Synge Street Christian Brothers School , Dublin of which his novel The Hard Life contains a semi-autobiographical depiction. The Christian Brothers in Ireland had

1833-472: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,

1974-541: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of

2115-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in

2256-648: A literary giant." Fintan O'Toole said of O'Brien "he could have been a celebrated national treasure – but he was far too radical for that." O'Brien has also been semi-seriously referred to as a "scientific prophet" in relation to his writings on thermodynamics , quaternion theory and atomic theory . In 2012, on the 101st anniversary of his birth, O'Brien was honoured with a commemorative Google Doodle . His life and works were celebrated on BBC Radio 4 's Great Lives in December 2017. In The Guardian feature "My Hero", John Banville chose O'Brien, writing: "O’Brien

2397-483: A name but was skilfully evasive on the topic. (Relations are said to have decayed when O'Nolan somehow snatched and absconded with O'Mahoney's prosthetic leg during a drinking session [the original had been lost on military service].) The first column appeared on 4 October 1940, under the pseudonym "An Broc" ("The Badger"). In all subsequent columns the name "Myles na gCopaleen" ("Myles of the Little Horses" or "Myles of

2538-574: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in

2679-554: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on

2820-518: A plan to merge UCD and Trinity. Between 1969 and 1970, the Faculties of Commerce, Arts and Law moved to Belfield. In 1972, Thomas Murphy was appointed president. In 1973, the library opened. In 1980, the college purchased Richview and 17.4 acres and the architecture faculty moved there. In 1981, the Sports Complex opened. In 1986, Patrick Masterson was appointed president. During the 1990s, some of

2961-504: A powerful political figure, both of whom almost certainly knew or guessed O'Brien was na gCopaleen. Though O'Brien's writing frequently mocked the civil service, he was for much of his career relatively important and highly regarded and was trusted with delicate tasks and policies, such as running (as "secretary") the public inquiry into the Cavan Orphanage Fire of 1943 and planning of a proposed Irish National Health Service imitating

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3102-611: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by

3243-459: A representation of literary nonsense . It was one of the last books that James Joyce read and he praised it to O'Brien's friends—praise which was subsequently used for years as a blurb on reprints of O'Brien's novels. The book was also praised by Graham Greene , who was working as a reader when the book was put forward for publication. Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges , whose work might be said to bear some similarities to that of O'Brien, praised

3384-468: A reputation for excessive, prolific and unnecessary use of violence and corporal punishment , which sometimes inflicted lifelong psychological trauma upon their pupils. Blackrock College , however, where O'Brien's education continued, was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers , who were considered more intellectual and less likely to use corporal punishment against their students. Blackrock was, and remains

3525-488: A result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within

3666-490: A series in this strain covering such rural complexities as inflamed goat-udders, warble-pocked shorthorn, contagious abortion, non-ovoid oviducts and nervous disorders among the gentlemen who pay the rent [a well known Irish slang for pigs]. The Irish Times has, traditionally, published a lot of letters from readers, devoting a full page daily to such letters, which are widely read. Often an epistolary series, some written by O'Brien and some not, continued for days and weeks under

3807-577: A series of pseudonymous letters written to The Irish Times , originally intended to mock the publication in that same newspaper of a poem, "Spraying the Potatoes", by the writer Patrick Kavanagh : I am no judge of poetry—the only poem I ever wrote was produced when I was body and soul in the gilded harness of Dame Laudanum—but I think Mr Kavanaugh [sic] is on the right track here. Perhaps the Irish Times , timeless champion of our peasantry, will oblige us with

3948-528: A typist in the Department of Local Government. On his marriage he moved from his parental home in Blackrock to nearby Merrion Avenue, living at several further locations in South Dublin before his death. The couple had no children. Evelyn died on 18 April 1995. O'Brien was an alcoholic for much of his life and suffered from ill health in his later years. He was afflicted with cancer of the throat and died from

4089-437: A variety of false names, using various styles and assailed varied topics, including other earlier letters by O'Brien under different pseudonyms. The letters were a hit with the readers of The Irish Times , and R. M. Smyllie , then editor of the newspaper invited O'Brien to contribute a column. Importantly, The Irish Times maintained that there were in fact three pseudonymous authors of the "Cruiskeen Lawn" column, which provided

4230-646: A very prominent school, having educated many of the leaders of post-independence Ireland, including presidents, taoisigh (prime ministers), government ministers, businessmen and the elite of " Official Ireland " and their children. O'Brien was taught English by the President of the College, and future Archbishop, John Charles McQuaid . According to Farragher and Wyer: Dr McQuaid himself was recognised as an outstanding English teacher, and when one of his students, Brian O'Nolan, alias Myles na gCopaleen, boasted in his absence to

4371-662: A way the other mysteries of the life of Brian O'Nolan that still defy the researcher." A key feature of O'Brien's personal situation was his status as an Irish civil servant, who, as a result of his father's relatively early death in July 1937, was for a decade obliged to partially support his mother and ten siblings, including an elder brother who was then an unsuccessful writer (there would likely have been some pension for his mother and minor siblings resulting from his father's service); however, other siblings enjoyed considerable professional success. One, Kevin (also known as Caoimhín Ó Nualláin),

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4512-546: A weekend of events celebrating the centenary of his birth. A commemorative 55c stamp featuring a portrait of O'Brien's head as drawn by his brother Micheál Ó Nualláin was issued for the same occasion. This occurred some 52 years after the writer's famous criticism of the Irish postal service. A bronze sculpture of the writer stands outside the Palace Bar on Dublin's Fleet Street . Kevin Myers said, "Had Myles escaped he might have become

4653-537: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss

4794-584: Is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as

4935-573: Is a major holder of archives of national and international significance relating to the Irish War of Independence . In 1913, in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers , Eóin MacNeill , professor of early Irish history, called for the formation of an Irish nationalist force to counteract it. The Irish Volunteers were formed later that year and MacNeill was elected its Chief-of-staff. At

5076-607: Is a public research university in Dublin , Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland . With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest university and among Europe's most prestigious. UCD originates in a body founded in 1854, which opened as the Catholic University of Ireland on the feast of St. Malachy with John Henry Newman as its first rector; it re-formed in 1880 and chartered in its own right in 1908. The Universities Act, 1997 renamed

5217-448: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of

5358-634: Is also speculation about author names such as John Hackett, Peter the Painter (an obvious pun on a Mauser pistol favoured by the war of independence and civil war IRA and an eponymous anarchist), Winnie Wedge, John James Doe and numerous others. Not surprisingly, much of O'Brien's pseudonymous activity has not been verified. O'Brien's journalistic pseudonym is taken from a character (Myles-na-Coppaleen) in Dion Boucicault 's play The Colleen Bawn (itself an adaptation of Gerald Griffin 's The Collegians ), who

5499-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years

5640-721: Is made up of the Quinn School of Business, the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School , and UCD Business International Campus. The former constituent school, the UCD Quinn School of Business (commonly The Quinn School), is the building in which the UCD College of Business's undergraduate programme is based. It is located in a three-story building on the Belfield campus and is named after Lochlann Quinn , one of

5781-567: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described

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5922-536: Is part of the UCD Environmental Research Station. O'Reilly Hall, opened in 1994, was designed by the Irish architecture firm Scott Tallon Walker . In 1964, Jeremiah Hogan was appointed president and Thomas E. Nevin led the science faculty to move to a new campus at Belfield . Also that year, UCD became the first university in Europe to launch an MBA programme. In 1967, Donogh O'Malley proposed

6063-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it

6204-735: Is the stereotypical charming Irish rogue. At one point in the play, he sings the ancient anthem of the Irish Brigades on the Continent, the song "An Crúiscín Lán" (hence the name of the column in the Irish Times ). Capall is the Irish word for "horse" (from Vulgar Latin caballus ), and "een" (spelled ín in Irish) is a diminutive suffix. The prefix na gCapaillín is the genitive plural in his Ulster Irish dialect (the Standard Irish would be "Myles na gCapaillíní"), so Myles na gCopaleen means "Myles of

6345-430: Is the subject of long pseudo-scholarly footnotes. This is fitting, because O'Brien himself made free use of characters invented by other writers, claiming that there were too many fictional characters as is. O'Brien was also known for pulling the reader's leg by concocting elaborate conspiracy theories. An award winning radio play by Albrecht Behmel called Ist das Ihr Fahrrad, Mr. O'Brien? brought his life and work to

6486-465: Is where parts of the suburb of Ballymun are located. The new campus was largely designed by A&D Wejchert & Partners Architects and includes several notable structures, including the UCD Water Tower which was built in 1972 by John Paul Construction. The Tower won the 1979 Irish Concrete Society Award. It stands 60 metres high with a dodecahedron tank atop a pentagonal pillar. The Tower

6627-659: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act

6768-448: The .ie domain in the late 1980s. The NovaUCD initiative is UCD's innovation and technology transfer centre, funded through a public-private partnership. In 2004, Duolog relocated its Dublin headquarters to NovaUCD. The Educational Irish Research Satellite 1 , or EIRSAT-1, is a 2U CubeSat under development at UCD and will be Ireland's first satellite. The students' union in the college has been an active part of campaigns run by

6909-645: The Easter Rising . Several UCD staff and students participated in the rising, including Pádraig Pearse , Thomas MacDonagh , Michael Hayes and James Ryan , and a smaller number, including Tom Kettle and Willie Redmond , fought for the British in World War I . Many UCD staff, students and alumni fought in the Irish War of Independence . Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty , four UCD graduates joined

7050-825: The Irish Civil War , fairly strictly apolitical. Civil Service Regulations and the service's internal culture generally prohibit Civil Servants above the level of Clerical Officer from publicly expressing political views. As a practical matter, this meant that writing in newspapers on current events was, during O'Brien's career, generally prohibited without departmental permission which would be granted on an article-by-article, publication-by-publication basis. This fact alone contributed to O'Brien's use of pseudonyms, though he had started to create character-authors even in his pre-civil service writings. O'Brien rose to be quite senior, serving as private secretary to Seán T. O'Kelly (a minister and later President of Ireland) and Seán MacEntee ,

7191-540: The National University of Ireland was founded and the following year the Royal University was dissolved. This new university was brought into existence with three constituent University Colleges – Dublin, Galway and Cork . Following the establishment of the NUI, D. J. Coffey, Professor of Physiology, Catholic University Medical School, became the first president of UCD. The Medical School in Cecilia Street became

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7332-619: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")

7473-492: The Rhineland and at Bonn drifting away from the strict pursuit of study." So far, no external evidence has turned up that would back up this sojourn (or an also anecdotal short-term marriage to one 'Clara Ungerland' from Cologne). In their biography, Costello and van de Kamp, discussing the inconclusive evidence, state that "...it must remain a mystery, in the absence of documented evidence an area of mere speculation, representing in

7614-688: The Royal College of Science on Merrion Street, is now the location of the renovated Irish Government Building, where the Department of the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) is situated. University College Dublin also had a site in Glasnevin for much of the last century, the Albert Agricultural College , the southern part of which is now occupied by Dublin City University , the northern part

7755-604: The VERITAS and INTEGRAL experiments) and Experimental particle physics (participating in the Large Hadron Collider experiments LHCb and CMS ). Amongst the research institutes of the university are: Wide partnerships in which UCD is involved include: The most prominent UCD-related company is the IE Domain Registry ; many UCD academics continue to sit on the board of directors. UCD originally gained control of

7896-672: The government of the Irish Free State . UCD graduates have since participated in Irish political life – three of the nine Presidents of Ireland and six of the fourteen Taoisigh have been either former staff or graduates. In 1926, the University Education (Agriculture and Dairy Science) Act transferred the Royal College of Science in Merrion Street and Albert Agricultural College in Glasnevin to UCD. In 1933, Belfield House

8037-562: The "cult" of Joyce, saying "I declare to God if I hear that name Joyce one more time I will surely froth at the gob." O'Brien's father, Michael Vincent O'Nolan, was a pre-independence official in HM Customs Service, a role that required frequent moves between cities and towns in England, Scotland and Ireland. Although of apparently trenchant Irish republican views, he did, because of his role and employment, need to be discreet about them. At

8178-611: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English

8319-604: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as

8460-527: The 2025 QS World University Rankings , UCD was ranked as 126nd in the world. The 2022 QS World University Rankings for employability and reputation rate UCD as first in Ireland and 87th in the world. The 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed UCD in the range of 201–250. It also ranked it 101–200th in the 2022 Impact Rankings. The QS Subject Ranking: Veterinary Science , 2018 ranked UCD 24th globally and first in Ireland. The 2024 U.S. News & World Report ranked UCD as

8601-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which

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8742-466: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme

8883-419: The Catholic University Medical School was opened on Cecilia Street. As a private university, Catholic University was never given a royal charter, and so was unable to award recognised degrees and suffered from chronic financial difficulties. Newman left the university in 1857. In 1861, Bartholomew Woodlock was appointed Rector and served until he became Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise in 1879. Henry Neville

9024-404: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish

9165-571: The Ireland of the 1930s to the 1970s. Nonetheless, had O'Nolan forced the issue, by using one of his known pseudonyms or his own name for an article that seriously upset politicians, consequences would likely have followed—contributing to the acute pseudonym problem in attributing his work today. A combination of his gradually deepening alcoholism , legendarily outrageous behaviour when, frequently, inebriated, and his habit of making derogatory and increasingly reckless remarks about senior politicians in his newspaper columns led to his forced retirement from

9306-685: The Irish State (for EU citizens) and by students themselves under the "Free Fees Initiative". Postgraduate fees vary depending on the student nationality, course and degree type, ranging from 7,000€ to 22,000€ per year. The initial patrons and benefactors of UCD were the Catholic Church. Amongst the most recent patrons include actor Gregory Peck , who was a founding patron of the School of Film. Other benefactors include Lochlann Quinn ( UCD Quinn School of Business ), Michael Smurfit ( Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School ), Peter Sutherland (Sutherland School of Law), Tony O'Reilly (O'Reilly Hall) and Denis O'Brien (O'Brien Science Centre). In

9447-425: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but

9588-448: The Little Horses". Capaillín is also the Irish word for " pony ", as in the name of Ireland's most famous and ancient native horse breed, the Connemara pony . O'Brien himself always insisted on the translation "Myles of the Ponies", saying that he did not see why the principality of the pony should be subjugated to the imperialism of the horse. At Swim-Two-Birds works entirely with borrowed characters from other fiction and legend, on

9729-407: The National Union, USI , and has played a role in the life of the college since its foundation in 1974. The Union has also taken stances on issues of human rights that have attracted attention in Ireland and around the world; in particular, it implemented a ban of Coca-Cola products in Student Union controlled shops on the basis of alleged human and trade union rights abuses in Colombia . This ban

9870-433: The Neckar. Chats in erse with Kun O'Meyer and John Marquess ... Alas, those chimes. Und als wir nahmen/ Abschied vor den Toren/ beim letzten Küss, da hab' Ich Klar erkannt/ dass Ich mein Herz/ in Heidelberg verloren/ MEIN HERZ/ es schlägt am Neck-ar-strand! Tumpty tumpty tum. Ó Nuallain/na gCopaleen wrote "Cruiskeen Lawn" for The Irish Times until the year of his death, 1966. He contributed substantially to Envoy (he

10011-399: The O'Brien pen name. His many satirical columns in The Irish Times and an Irish-language novel, An Béal Bocht , were written under the name Myles na gCopaleen . O'Brien's novels have attracted a wide following both for their unconventional humour and as prominent examples of modernist metafiction . As a novelist, O'Brien was influenced by James Joyce . He was nonetheless skeptical of

10152-533: The Ponies"—a name taken from The Collegians , a novel by Gerald Griffin ) was used. Initially, the column was composed in Irish, but soon English was used primarily, with occasional smatterings of German, French or Latin. The sometimes intensely satirical column's targets included the Dublin literary elite, Irish language revivalists, the Irish government, and the "Plain People of Ireland". The following column excerpt, in which

10293-597: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,

10434-497: The Royal University system. In 1883, Fr William Delany SJ was appointed the first president of University College. The college attracted academics from around Ireland, including Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins and James Joyce . Some notable staff and students at the school during this period included Francis Sheehy-Skeffington , Patrick Pearse , Hugh Kennedy , Hannah O'Leary, Eoin MacNeill , Kevin O'Higgins , Tom Kettle , James Ryan , Douglas Hyde and John A. Costello . In 1908,

10575-696: The UCD Medical Faculty and the Faculty of Commerce was established. Under the Universities Act, 1997, University College Dublin was established as a constituent university within the National University of Ireland framework. In 1911, land donated by Lord Iveagh helped the university expand in Earlsfort Terrace /Hatch Street/ St Stephen's Green. Iveagh Gardens was part of this donation. UCD

10716-554: The UCD O'Brien Centre for Science opened and the UCD Sutherland School of Law opened. It is now the largest Common Law law school in the European Union. In 2015, UCD opened a global centre in the US. In 2019, UCD became the first Irish university to launch a Black Studies module, coordinated by Dr Ebun Joseph and Prof Kathleen Lynch . In March 2022 Prof Andrew Deeks resigned to take up

10857-487: The UK's , under the auspices of his department—planning he duly mocked in his pseudonymous column. In reality, that Brian O'Nolan was Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen was an open secret , largely disregarded by his colleagues, who found his writing very entertaining; this was a function of the makeup of the civil service, which recruited leading graduates by competitive examination. It was an erudite and relatively liberal body in

10998-472: The USA. Southern Illinois University Press has set up a Flann O'Brien Center and begun publishing all of O'Brien's works. Consequently, academic attention to the novel has increased. The rejection of The Third Policeman by publishers in his lifetime had a profound effect on O'Brien. This is perhaps reflected in The Dalkey Archive , in which sections of The Third Policeman are recycled almost word for word, namely

11139-723: The atomic theory and the character De Selby . The Third Policeman has a fantastic plot of a murderous protagonist let loose on a strange world peopled by overweight policemen, played against a satire of academic debate on an eccentric philosopher called De Selby. Sergeant Pluck introduces the atomic theory of the bicycle. The Dalkey Archive features a character who encounters a penitent, elderly and apparently unbalanced James Joyce (who dismissively refers to his work by saying 'I have published little' and, furthermore, does not seem aware of having written and published Finnegans Wake ) working as an assistant barman or 'curate'—another small joke relating to Joyce's alleged priestly ambitions—in

11280-549: The attention of a broader German audience in 2003. In 2011 the '100 Myles: The International Flann O'Brien Centenary Conference' (24–27 July) was held at The Department of English Studies at the University of Vienna, the success of which led to the establishment of 'The International Flann O'Brien Society' (IFOBS). Each year the IFOBS announces awards for both books and articles about O'Brien. In October 2011, Trinity College Dublin hosted

11421-512: The author of a published letter existed or not, or who it might in fact be. There is also persistent speculation that he wrote some of a very long series of penny dreadful detective novels (and stories) featuring a protagonist called Sexton Blake under the pseudonym Stephen Blakesley, he may have been the early science fiction writer John Shamus O'Donnell, who published in Amazing Stories at least one science fiction story in 1932, while there

11562-568: The author wistfully recalls a brief sojourn in Germany as a student, illustrates the biting humour and scorn that informed the "Cruiskeen Lawn" writings: I notice these days that the Green Isle is getting greener. Delightful ulcerations resembling buds pit the branches of our trees, clumpy daffodils can be seen on the upland lawn. Spring is coming and every decent girl is thinking of that new Spring costume. Time will run on smoother till Favonius re-inspire

11703-404: The author's design. For example, the villain of the story, one Carruthers McDaid, intended by the author as the lowest form of a scoundrel, "meant to sink slowly to absolutely the last extremities of human degradation", instead ekes out a modest living selling cats to elderly ladies and begins covertly attending Mass without the author's consent. Meanwhile, the story's hero, Shaun Svoolish, chooses

11844-634: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He

11985-463: The book in his essay " When Fiction Lives in Fiction ". The British writer Anthony Burgess stated, "If we don't cherish the work of Flann O'Brien we are stupid fools who don't deserve to have great men. Flann O'Brien is a very great man." Burgess included At Swim-Two-Birds on his list of Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 . At Swim-Two-Birds has had a troubled publication history in

12126-611: The building was renamed the Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington Building. In 1990, the UCD purchased Carysfort College, Blackrock, and became the location of the Smurfit Graduate school of business . The first student village, Belgrove, opened that year as well. In 1992, the second student village, Merville, opened and the Centre for Film studies was established. In 1993, Art Cosgrove was appointed president. In 1994, O'Reilly Hall

12267-433: The civil service in 1953 after enraging a minister who realised he was the unnamed target whose intellect was ridiculed in several columns. One column described that the politician's reaction to any question requiring even a trace of intellectual effort as "[t]he great jaw would drop, the ruined graveyard of tombstone teeth would be revealed, the eyes would roll, and the malt eroded voice would say 'Hah?'" (He departed, recalled

12408-399: The constituent university as the "National University of Ireland, Dublin", and a ministerial order of 1998 renamed the institution as "University College Dublin – National University of Ireland, Dublin". Originally located at St Stephen's Green and Earlsfort terrace in Dublin's city centre, all faculties later relocated to a 133-hectare (330-acre) campus at Belfield , six kilometres to

12549-418: The early 1960s when the faculty of science moved to the new 1.4 square kilometres (350 acres) park campus at Belfield in a suburb on the south side of Dublin. The Belfield campus developed into a complex of modern buildings and inherited Georgian townhouses, accommodating the colleges of the university as well as its student residences and many leisure and sporting facilities. One of UCD's previous locations,

12690-713: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of

12831-468: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as

12972-545: The endless sight Eternity unrolled. O'Brien wrote prodigiously during his years as a student at University College Dublin (UCD), which was then situated in various buildings around Dublin's south city centre (with its numerous pubs and cafés). There he was an active, and controversial, member of the well known Literary and Historical Society . He contributed to the student magazine, called in Irish Comhthrom Féinne ( Fair Play ), under various guises, in particular

13113-545: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of

13254-512: The first time in Ireland, higher-level education for followers of the Catholic Church and taught by such people. The Catholic hierarchy demanded a Catholic alternative to the University of Dublin's Trinity College , whose Anglican origins the hierarchy refused to overlook. Since the 1780s, the University of Dublin had admitted Catholics to study; a religious test, however, hindered the efforts of Catholics in their desire to obtain membership in

13395-501: The formation of the Irish Free State in 1921, O'Nolan senior joined the Irish Revenue Commissioners . O'Brien's career as a writer extended from his student days, through his years in the Irish civil service and the years following his resignation. O'Brien's mother, Agnes (née Gormley), was also from an Irish nationalist family in Strabane , and this, then and now largely nationalist and Catholic town, formed somewhat of

13536-858: The frozen Meade and clothe in fresh attire the lily and rose that have not sown nor spun. Curse it, my mind races back to my Heidelberg days. Sonya and Lili. And Magda. And Ernst Schmutz, Georg Geier, Theodor Winkleman, Efrem Zimbalist , Otto Grün. And the accordion player Kurt Schachmann. And Doktor Oreille, descendant of Irish princes. Ich hab' mein Herz/ in Heidelberg verloren/ in einer lauen/ Sommernacht/ Ich war verliebt/ bis über beide/ Ohren/ und wie ein Röslein/hatt'/ Ihr Mund gelächt or something humpty tumpty tumpty tumpty tumpty mein Herz it schlägt am Neckarstrandm. A very beautiful student melody. Beer and music and midnight swims in

13677-414: The grounds that there are already far too many existing fictional characters. The book is recognised as one of the most significant modernist novels before 1945. It has also been read as a pioneer of postmodernism , although the academic Keith Hopper has argued that The Third Policeman , superficially less radical, is actually a more deeply subversive and proto-postmodernist work, and as such, possibly

13818-519: The institution founded in 1854 as the Catholic University of Ireland . Renamed University College in 1883 and put under the control of the Jesuits in 1883, it became University College Dublin in 1908, a constituent college of the National University of Ireland under the Universities Act. After the Catholic Emancipation period of Irish history, Archbishop of Armagh attempted to provide, for

13959-698: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has

14100-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of

14241-472: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,

14382-552: The main financial contributors to the school. Other donors included Bank of Ireland , AIB , Irish Life & Permanent , Accenture , KPMG , PwC , Dunnes Stores and Ernst & Young . When first opened in 2002, it claimed to be the only business school in Europe with a specific focus on technology and e-learning . At the beginning of the 2005/2006 academic year, UCD introduced the Horizons curriculum, which completely semesterised and modularised all undergraduate courses. Under

14523-563: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed

14664-771: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to

14805-414: The new curriculum, students choose ten core modules from their specific subject area and two other modules, which can be chosen from any other programme at the university. UCD is also home to UCD Professional Academy, which offers career development through a range of professional diplomas.   Subject areas include Business, IT, Management, Marketing and Design. Undergraduate fees are funded in part by

14946-463: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them

15087-580: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as

15228-498: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish

15369-585: The outbreak of World War I , in view of the Home Rule Act 1914 and the political perception that it might not be implemented, the leader of the Home Rule Party, John Redmond , urged the Irish Volunteers to support the British war effort as a way of supporting Irish Home Rule. This effort on behalf of Home Rule included many UCD staff and students. Many of those who opposed this move later participated in

15510-539: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After

15651-414: The pseudonym Brother Barnabas. Significantly, he composed a story during this same period titled "Scenes in a Novel (probably posthumous) by Brother Barnabas", which anticipates many of the ideas and themes later to be found in his novel, At Swim-Two-Birds . In it, the putative author of the story finds himself in riotous conflict with his characters, who are determined to follow their own paths regardless of

15792-639: The pseudonymous author-identities reflected composite caricatures of existing people, this would also fuel speculation as to whether his model (or models) for the character was in fact the author writing under a pseudonym, apparently leading to social controversy and angry arguments and accusations. He would allegedly write letters to the editor of The Irish Times complaining about his own articles published in that newspaper, for example in his regular "Cruiskeen Lawn" column, or irate, eccentric and even mildly deranged pseudonymous responses to his own pseudonymous letters, which gave rise to rampant speculation as to whether

15933-487: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )

16074-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need

16215-743: The resort of Skerries. The scientist De Selby seeks to suck all of the air out of the world, and Policeman Pluck learns of the molecule theory from Sergeant Fottrell. The Dalkey Archive was adapted for the stage in September 1965 by Hugh Leonard as The Saints Go Cycling In . Other books written by O'Brien include An Béal Bocht —translated from the Irish as The Poor Mouth —(a parody of Tomás Ó Criomhthain 's autobiography An t-Oileánach —in English The Islander ), and The Hard Life (a fictional autobiography meant to be his "masterpiece"). As noted above he may, between 1946 and 1952, have been one of

16356-454: The rest of the class that there were only two people in the College who could write English properly, namely, Dr McQuaid and himself, they had no hesitation in agreeing. And Dr McQuaid did Myles the honour of publishing a little verse by him in the first issue of the revived College Annual (1930)—this being Myles' first published item. The poem itself, "Ad Astra", read as follows: Ah! When the skies at night Are damascened with gold, Methinks

16497-625: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in

16638-487: The role of vice-Chancellor at Murdoch University, in Perth, Western Australia. Prof Mark Rogers was appointed acting president. UCD consists of six colleges, their associated schools (37 in total) and multiple research institutes and centres. Each college also has its own Graduate School , for postgraduates. List of colleges and their respective schools following restructuring in September 2015. The UCD College of Business

16779-625: The second best university in Ireland and 253rd globally. UCD's Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School is ranked 22nd in the Financial Times' ranking of leading European Business Schools in 2022 and 1st in Ireland. UCD was The Sunday Times University of the Year 2006 and 2020. UCD had a research income of €155.7 million during 2021/22. The School of Physics hosts research groups in Astrophysics, space science and relativity theory (members of

16920-593: The south of the city centre. In 1991, it purchased a second site in Blackrock, which currently houses the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School . A report published in May 2015 asserted that the economic output generated by UCD and its students in Ireland amounted to €1.3 billion annually. Five Nobel Laureates are among UCD's alumni and current and former staff. Additionally, four Taoisigh (Prime Ministers) and three Irish Presidents have graduated from UCD, along with one President of India. UCD can trace its history to

17061-403: The students of Women's Studies, led by Niamh Nolan, petitioned to rename their Gender Studies building after Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington to honour her contribution to women's rights and equal access to third-level education. Her husband Francis Sheehy-Skeffington was himself an alumnus of the university and Hanna of the Royal University, a sister university of UCD. Their campaign was successful and

17202-470: The title "Cruiskeen Lawn", using the moniker Myles na gCopaleen (changing that to Myles na Gopaleen in late 1952, having put the column on hold for most of that year). For the first year, the columns were in Irish. Then, he alternated columns in Irish with columns in English, but by late 1953 he had settled on English only. His newspaper column, "Cruiskeen Lawn" (transliterated from the Irish "crúiscín lán", meaning "full/brimming small-jug"), has its origins in

17343-450: The university's governing bodies. Thus, in 1850 at the Synod of Thurles , it was decided to open a university in Dublin for Catholics. As a result of these efforts, a new "Catholic University of Ireland" opened in 1854 on St Stephen's Green , with John Henry Newman appointed as its first rector. The Catholic University opened its doors on the feast of St Malachy, 3 November 1854. In 1855,

17484-705: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at

17625-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By

17766-597: The writers to use the pseudonym Stephen Blakesley to write up to eight books of the protracted series of " penny dreadful " Sexton Blake novels and stories, and he may have written yet more fiction under a wide array of pseudonyms. O'Brien's theatrical output was unsuccessful. Faustus Kelly , a play about a local councillor selling his soul to the devil for a seat in the Dáil, ran for only 11 performances in 1943. A second play, Rhapsody in Stephen's Green , also called The Insect Play ,

17907-488: Was "honorary editor" for the special number featuring James Joyce) and formed part of the (famously heavy drinking) Envoy / McDaid's pub circle of artistic and literary figures that included Patrick Kavanagh , Anthony Cronin , Brendan Behan , John Jordan , Pearse Hutchinson , J. P. Donleavy and artist Desmond MacNamara who, at the author's request, created the book cover for the first edition of The Dalkey Archive. O'Brien also contributed to The Bell . He also wrote

18048-446: Was a Professor of Ancient Classics at University College, Dublin; yet another, Micheál Ó Nualláin was a noted artist; another, Ciarán Ó Nualláin, was a writer, novelist, publisher and journalist. Given the desperate poverty of Ireland in the 1930s to 1960s, a job as a civil servant was considered prestigious, being both secure and pensionable with a reliable cash income in a largely agrarian economy. The Irish civil service has been, since

18189-663: Was a philistine as well as a consummate prose stylist, an artist who threw away his talent, a Catholic who allowed himself to drift into the sin of despair, and a great comic sensibility thwarted and shrivelled by emotional self-denial. He would have laughed at the notion of being anybody’s hero." The podcast Radio Myles by Toby Harris features interviews with notable scholars discussing O'Brien's works. The BBC radio show The Exploding Library dedicated an episode to The Third Policeman . Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),

18330-550: Was a reworking of the Capek Brothers' synonymous play using anthropomorphised insects to satirise society. It also was put on in 1943 but quickly folded, possibly because of the offence it gave to various interests including Catholics, Ulster Protestants, Irish civil servants, Corkmen, and the Fianna Fail party. The play was thought lost, but was rediscovered in 1994 in the archives of Northwestern University . In 1956, O'Brien

18471-459: Was also notorious for his prolific use and creation of pseudonyms for much of his writing, including short stories, essays, and letters to editors, and even perhaps novels, which has rendered the compilation of a complete bibliography of his writings an almost impossible task. Under pseudonyms, he regularly wrote to various newspapers, particularly The Irish Times , waspish letters targeting various well-known figures and writers; mischievously, some of

18612-523: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from

18753-632: Was appointed Rector to replace Woodlock. In 1880, the Royal University of Ireland was established and allowed students from any college to take examinations for a degree. In 1882, Catholic University reorganised, and the St Stephen's Green institution (the former Arts school of the Catholic University) run by the Irish Jesuits, was renamed University College, and it began participating in

18894-571: Was co-producer of a production for RTÉ , the Irish broadcaster, of 3 Radio Ballets , which was just what it said it was—a dance performance in three parts designed for and performed on radio. O'Brien influenced the science fiction writer and conspiracy theory satirist Robert Anton Wilson , who has O'Brien's character De Selby, an obscure intellectual in The Third Policeman and The Dalkey Archive , appear in his own The Widow's Son . In both The Third Policeman and The Widow's Son , De Selby

19035-643: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build

19176-689: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to, in Ireland, as UCD ) ( Irish : Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath )

19317-694: Was opened. In Malaysia , UCD, together with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), owns a branch campus within George Town , the capital city of the State of Penang . Established in 1996, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and University College Dublin Malaysia Campus (RUMC) offers a twinning programme in Medicine where students spend the first half of their course in either RCSI or UCD, before completing their clinical years at RUMC. In 2003, NovaUCD,

19458-511: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in

19599-439: Was purchased for sporting purposes. In 1940, Arthur Conway was appointed president. By the early 1940s, the college had become the largest third-level institution in the state and the college attempted to expand the existing city centre campus. It was later decided that the best solution would be to move the college to a larger greenfield site outside of the city centre and create a modern campus university . This move started in

19740-678: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in

19881-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,

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