79-589: Fáinne ( Irish: [ˈfˠaːn̠ʲə] ; pl. Fáinní but often Fáinnes in English) is the name of a pin badge worn to show fluency in, or a willingness to speak, the Irish language . The three modern versions of the pin as relaunched in 2014 by Conradh na Gaeilge are the Fáinne Óir (gold circle), Seanfháinne (old fáinne/circle) and Fáinne Airgid (silver circle). In other contexts, fáinne simply means "ring" or "circle" and
158-540: 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
237-697: 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
316-560: 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
395-417: A clear symbol. The article got many letters in favour and against, but two men, Tadhg Ó Scanaill and Colm Ó Murchadha, came to him asking him to organise a meeting towards setting up a council. He says that it was they who set the whole thing up. He says that he went to speak to Cú Uladh (Peadar Mac Fhionnlaíoch 1856–1942), then vice president of Conradh na Gaeilge, and he highly praised the idea. The meeting
474-472: 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,
553-541: 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
632-460: 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
711-473: A league on the model of the Fáinne for the support of Irish manufactures might be established. The Fáinne lapel pins were, at first, a limited success. They appealed mainly to Nationalists and Republicans , for whom the language was generally learnt as adults as a second language. The appeal to people for whom Irish was the native tongue was limited. They spoke Irish, as did everyone from their village, so there
790-574: 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
869-554: 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
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#1732872678474948-481: A period of relative peace in the new province of Northern Ireland , meant they had, to some extent, achieved their aim. Twenty years or so later, a Fáinne would be a very rare sight. Due to lack of demand they were no longer manufactured, and the organisation had fizzled out. Conradh na Gaeilge and other Irish-language bodies attempted a revival, circa 1965, of the Fáinne , which, for a short time at least, became successful: An Fáinne Nua (' The New Fáinne' )
1027-611: 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
1106-625: A strong president could exercise authority beyond the limits laid down in the 1922 constitution. The president's weak position arose from the fact that the status of his office was modelled on that of the prime minister of the United Kingdom before 1918. Until 1918, the British prime minister's powers had been theoretically quite limited and, as a member of the cabinet, the office-holder was regarded strictly as primus inter pares . Under Prime Minister David Lloyd George , however, from 1918 onwards,
1185-537: 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
1264-511: 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 a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish
1343-448: 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
1422-627: Is also used to give such terms as fáinne pósta ( wedding ring ), fáinne an lae ( daybreak ), Tiarna na bhFáinní ( The Lord of the Rings ), and fáinne cluaise ( earring ). An Fáinne Úr ('úr' meaning 'new') is the modernised rendition of the Fáinne, having been updated in 2014 by Conradh na Gaeilge. There are three versions presently available, none requiring test or certification: ( The Original Organisation) Two Irish language organisations, An Fáinne (est. 1916) ("The Ring" or "The Circle" in Irish) and
1501-511: 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
1580-472: Is in many cases not even aware that the Fáinne exists. They hope this target market will latch on to the badge and wear it as an invitation to others to speak to them in Irish." Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It
1659-567: 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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#17328726784741738-579: 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 the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on
1817-412: 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
1896-659: 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
1975-619: 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 ")
2054-576: The governor-general , upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament) and had to enjoy the confidence of the Dáil to remain in office. The office was succeeded by that of taoiseach , though subsequent Taoisigh are numbered from the first president of the Executive. The president of the Executive Council was nominated by the Dáil and then formally appointed by the governor-general, though
2133-611: 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
2212-485: The 1960s–1970s, but fell into relative disuse shortly afterwards. Included among reasons commonly given for this were that the change in fashion made it impractical to wear a lapel pin; the resumption of hostilities in Northern Ireland making people either not wanting to show publicly a "love for things Irish" for fear of intimidation; or, for the more radical elements to place "Irishness" second to "freedom". As cúpla focal means "a couple of words", one would assume that it
2291-712: 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
2370-403: 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
2449-563: 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
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2528-463: 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
2607-579: The Executive Council came into being on 6 December 1922 with the establishment of the Irish Free State, replacing the previous offices of president of Dáil Éireann and chairman of the Provisional Government . Only two individuals held the office of president of the Executive Council during its existence: W. T. Cosgrave , until 1932, and Éamon de Valera thereafter. Under a constitutional amendment passed in 1936 and legislation passed in 1937
2686-645: The Executive Council of the Irish Free State The president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State ( Irish : Uachtarán ar Ard-Chomhairle Shaorstát Éireann ) was the head of government or prime minister of the Irish Free State which existed from 1922 to 1937. He was the chairman of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State , the Free State's cabinet . The president was appointed by
2765-409: The Executive Council was through a commission of the monarch or governor-general, either the leader of the party with a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament or, if no party commanded an absolute majority, whichever leader he believed would be best able to avoid a vote of no confidence. The office of the president of the Executive Council was less powerful than either its modern equivalent,
2844-560: The Free State de jure independence. Soon after the Statute's passage, the Free State sought, and was granted, the right to have an Irish minister formally advise the King in the exercise of his powers and functions in the Irish Free State, to the exclusion of British ministers. This had the effect of giving the president of the Executive Council the right to advise the king in his capacity as His Majesty's Irish prime minister. The office of president of
2923-536: 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
3002-597: 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 ,
3081-457: The Society of Gaelic Writers (est. 1911), were founded by Piaras Béaslaí (1881–1965). They were intended to work together to a certain extent, the former promoting the language and awarding those fluent in its speaking with a Fáinne Óir (Gold Ring) lapel pin, and the latter would promote and create a pool of quality literary works in the language. All the personnel actively involved in promoting
3160-410: The association and (2) name it "An Fáinne" instead of "An Fáinne Gaedhalach", which was proposed by Colm Ó Murchadha, and three officers were elected to conduct the work of the association. Piaras supposes that Tadhg Ó Sganaill first thought of the Fáinne (ring) as the symbol. It was an inspired idea, he says, because no one had even thought of this symbol when the name was first proposed. He states at
3239-409: The badge is to let the world know that the user is both willing and able to speak Irish, and the students say that what they are promoting is 'a practical product to stimulate more peer-to-peer communication through Irish.'" "The badge won't threaten the place of the Fáinne , they say, because their target market is an age group which is not wearing the Fáinne and which, their market research suggests,
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3318-731: 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
3397-571: The concept of An Fáinne were associated with Conradh na Gaeilge, and from an early time, An Fáinne used the Dublin postal address of 25 Cearnóg Pharnell / Parnell Square, the then HQ of Conradh na Gaeilge though the organisations were officially separate, at least at first. The effectiveness of the organisation was acknowledged in the Dáil Éireann on 6 August 1920, when Richard Mulcahy , the Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Clontarf suggested that
3476-471: The end of the article that they had only begun the work of the committee when Easter Week arrived and some of the small amount that were involved were snatched away, but he says, the work continued and the world knows how they well they got on since then. The consistently high standard required to qualify for the Fáinne at this time made them quite prestigious, and there are many reports of people being recruited as night-school teachers of Irish-based purely on
3555-468: 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
3634-484: The fact they wore the pin. The President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State , W. T. Cosgrave acknowledged the Fáinne on 8 February 1924 as an indicator of Irish Language proficiency. The fact that the underlying reason many Fáinne wearers had studied Irish was political meant that the semi-independence of the Irish Free State , and the later complete independence of the Irish Republic , along with
3713-487: 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
3792-447: The governor-general was bound by constitutional convention to honour the Dáil's choice. On paper, executive power was vested in the governor-general, with the Executive Council empowered to "aide and advise" him. However, it also stipulated that the governor-general could only exercise his powers in accordance with constitutional practice established in Canada . Thus, the governor-general
3871-698: 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
3950-410: 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
4029-425: 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 ,
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#17328726784744108-406: The members of the Dáil, but the remainder of the cabinet had to be approved by a vote of consent in the Dáil before they could assume office. If he ceased to "retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann," the president, along with his cabinet, was obliged to resign, but could continue to serve as acting president until the appointment of a successor. The method of appointment of the president of
4187-563: 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
4266-771: 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
4345-463: 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
4424-580: 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
4503-619: 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
4582-449: The office of governor-general was abolished, with most of his powers being transferred to the Executive Council. At the same time, the president of the Executive Council ceased to be formally appointed by the governor-general, thenceforth simply being elected by the Dáil. The Irish Free State was reconstituted as ' Ireland ' on 29 December 1937, when the present-day Constitution of Ireland came into effect. The new Constitution abolished
4661-450: The office of taoiseach , or the offices of most modern prime ministers in nations that follow the parliamentary system of government. In particular, the powers of the president were subject to two important limitations: The result of these restrictions was, according to Brian Farrell , that the president of the Executive Council was closer to being the Executive Council's chairman or presiding officer, than its dominant leader. Nonetheless
4740-498: 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
4819-539: 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
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#17328726784744898-555: The powers of the office increased, as Lloyd George unilaterally arrogated to himself a number of powers that had previously belonged to the Cabinet collectively, including, most significantly, the right to seek a parliamentary dissolution. In 1931, the Statute of Westminster 1931 removed nearly all of the UK Parliament's authority to legislate for the Irish Free State, which effectively gave
4977-487: 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 )
5056-432: 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
5135-625: 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
5214-705: 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
5293-429: The winter of 1915 the language movement was at a low ebb due to lack of funds and a large portion of the best Gaels being so involved in the work of the volunteers that they were forgetting about speaking Irish. He says he wrote an article in The Leader proposing that Gaels establish an association of those who would take a solemn oath to only speak Irish at certain events and to other Gaeilgeoirí and that they should wear
5372-594: 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
5451-431: 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
5530-425: 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
5609-427: 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. President of
5688-526: Was for beginners. This is contradicted by the Fáinne website, with a statement to the effect it is worn to show support for the language. The Béal na nGael (Mouth of the Irish) is a different pin badge that shows a face with spiked hair and an open mouth. It was developed by the students of the Gaelcholáiste Reachrann gaelscoil and marketed primarily to youth in the Dublin Area. "The aim of
5767-556: Was marketed with the slogan Is duitse an Fáinne Nua! – meaning "The New Fáinne is for you !." It came in three varieties: The Gold Fáinne was manufactured from 9ct Gold, whilst the other two were sterling silver. The Coloured Fáinne also had an enamel blue ring separating two concentric silver circles. The prices for the Gold, Silver and Coloured varieties in 1968 were twelve shillings and sixpence, four shillings and five shillings respectively. They were popular in Ireland during
5846-484: Was no point whatsoever wearing a pin to prove it, even if they could have afforded one, or for that matter, even known they existed. In the early 1920s, many people who earned their Fáinne did so in prison, the majority of these being anti-treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) Volunteers during the Irish Civil War . According to Piaras Béaslaí's own article in the magazine Iris An Fháinne in 1922, he states that in
5925-588: Was organised for some time in the spring of 1916 in Craobh an Chéitinnigh (the Keating Branch). They went to a 'seanchus' prior to their own meeting in the Ard Chraobh (High Branch) and presented their idea to all those present. They were so taken with the idea that they all came with them to their own meeting in Craobh an Chéitinnigh. Cú Uladh was there before them and at this meeting and they decided they would (1) form
6004-465: 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
6083-413: Was required to exercise his powers on the advice of the Executive Council, making the president of the council the Free State's de facto political leader. Once he had appointed the president, the governor-general appointed the remaining members of the Executive Council on the president's nomination. The president had the freedom to choose any vice-president ( deputy prime minister ) he wished from among
6162-678: 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
6241-442: 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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