81-515: The Faddan More Psalter ( Irish : Saltair an Fheadáin Mhóir ) (also Irish Bog Psalter or "Faddan Mor Psalter") is an early medieval Christian psalter or text of the book of Psalms , discovered in a peat bog in July 2006, in the townland of Faddan More ( Irish : Feadán Mór ) in north County Tipperary , Ireland. The manuscript was probably written in about 800 CE in one of a number of monasteries in
162-540: 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
243-697: 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
324-560: 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
405-535: A book from the National Museum of Ireland, The Faddan More Psalter, The Discovery and Conservation of a Medieval Treasure published in November 2021. 53°03′13″N 7°59′57″W / 53.05361°N 7.99917°W / 53.05361; -7.99917 Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
486-472: 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,
567-541: 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
648-401: A fold-over flap with three horn buttons that were probably used to secure a thong or straps, now missing, that tied the cover up; it does not seem to have been physically attached to the gathered and sewn-together pages inside, forming what we might call today a folder or wallet. Similar covers seem to be shown in some images in manuscripts, but no comparable covers have survived. The outside of
729-460: 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
810-413: A leather satchel was found that, by radiocarbon dating , was estimated to originate from between the seventh and ninth centuries. This was found just 100 metres (330 ft) from where the psalter was found and is of a similar date, suggesting that the satchel may have originally contained the book. Additionally, in the years before 2006, two ancient wooden vessels were found in the same bog. When found,
891-533: A nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance"; this reference to the attempted destruction of Israel connected the find in some people's minds with the contemporaneous 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict . The matter was clarified by the director of the National Museum of Ireland , who pointed out the difference in Septuagint vs. Masoretic numbering and that the displayed psalm contains no reference to
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#1732879964754972-574: 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
1053-554: 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
1134-611: 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
1215-538: 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
1296-421: A shield or break work to persons standing on the roof. There were formerly three ways of entrance into the abbey; one near the est end, facing the north, which is now built up; another in the west gable most likely to have been the principal; and the third fronting the south, but near the west end, the arched stones of which are picked out. At the left hand, just as you enter the abbey, by the last mentioned doorway,
1377-400: A small fragment that was air-dried. Dewatering was carried out over four years using a vacuum chamber to minimise shrinkage and decay. Then dismantling was carried out. The letters, written in iron gall ink , were preserved better than spaces between letters, many of which had dissolved, so it was necessary after drying to piece them together in the right sequence. The process was described in
1458-401: A weight which, perhaps the graceful ones beneath would not be sufficient to bear up. The East Gable is thrown down nearly to the foundation, which has greatly injured the beauty of the building, as the great window which it contained was wrought with elegance and taste. The West Gable, in which a handsome gothic window, is still entire, being raised to a considerable height above the proportion of
1539-537: 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
1620-584: 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
1701-406: Is a niche in the wall where will a short time ago, there was to be seen a wooden effigy of St. Ruaden, or Ruan, the founder. Of this image, nothing now remains but the head which is thrown about. As you pass towards the east end, you see the remains of a cross wall, which divided the building into nearly two equal parts; the east of which has the windows facing the south, and those of the west opposite
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#17328799647541782-594: Is a small village at the northern tip of County Tipperary , Ireland . Ledewich described village as 'Larah' which is the common name for the talk-motes, mote hills etc. P. Dixon Hardy M.R.I.A. describes it as 'Loragh' It is located on a minor road between the R489 Birr to Portumna road and the N65 Nenagh to Portumna road about five kilometres east of the point where the River Shannon enters Lough Derg . It
1863-448: 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
1944-513: Is also the name of a townland and a civil parish in the historical barony of Ormond Lower . The civil parish borders Portumna in County Galway and Birr in County Offaly . In 843 a Norse expedition led by Turgesius raided Lorrha and the neighbouring settlement of Terryglass . 'Cromwell certainly visited Loragh, for tradition records him to have committed many sacrilegious acts in
2025-511: 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
2106-567: 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
2187-412: 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
2268-794: Is the local GAA sports club. Several well-known players have had Lorrha–Dorrha connections, see notable people below. Lorrha is on the route of the Ormond Way which forms part of the Beara-Breifne Way , a long-distance walking and cycling trail from the Beara Peninsula in County Cork to Blacklion in County Cavan . Lorrha East and Lorrha West are both in the Dáil constituency of Offaly which incorporates 24 electoral divisions that were previously in
2349-659: 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
2430-619: 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 ")
2511-611: 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
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2592-769: 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
2673-403: 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
2754-563: 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
2835-589: The English church-yards; as a proof of which, the remains of Broken crosses are still to be seen; tradition also tells us that the abbey bell was, at the same time, transferred to a neighbouring gentleman's house for security, where its silver tongue was exchanged for one of baser metal. That the abbey was taken possession of and burned, is likewise probable, as the east end, before it became overgrown with ivy, showed several marks of fire. it certainly must have been unroofed before Cromwell's time, for had it had been laid waste by him, tradition would not have so soon forgotten
2916-463: 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
2997-536: 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
3078-595: The Latin text of the Psalms, complete on 60 sheets of vellum in five gatherings or quires . The text is a Gallican version of the Vulgate , written in Insular majuscule letters in a single column. The first letter of each psalm has a capital and, as is often the case, the opening words of psalms 1, 51 and 101 are decorated, using black, red, and yellow. The original leather binding has
3159-597: 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 ,
3240-528: The abbey. The Lorrha Missal , a translation of the Latin and Gaelic Missal was transcribed at Lorrha in the 9th century. It is now commonly known as the Stowe Missal . See Annals of Inisfallen For those residents of a Christian faith, Lorrha has both an active Roman Catholic and Anglican church. Lorrha is an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe . Lorrha–Dorrha
3321-576: The area. After several years of conservation work, the psalter went on display at the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology in Kildare Street , Dublin in June 2011. This discovery was hailed by the National Museum of Ireland as one of the most significant Irish archaeological finds in decades. Bernard Meehan of the Trinity College Library , who advised on the discovery, said that he believed
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3402-731: 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
3483-465: The best way of drying waterlogged parchment. The most effective method involved soaking the parchment in ethanol to replace the water, placing it between blotting sheets, and vacuum-packing it. In the third phase, this technique was tested on small fragments of the psalter, and found to be effective. Conservators then began applying this method to larger sections of the psalter, and found they could consistently achieve shrinkage of only 2–5%, against 75% on
3564-419: The best way to conserve the psalter, and received partly conflicting advice. Ultimately a multi-phase conservation plan was determined. The first phase involved non-destructive examination of the psalter in the form in which it was discovered, e.g. photography, MRI scanning, and examination of the binding by book-binding specialists. In the second phase, experiments were done on 18th century parchments to determine
3645-638: The book was opened to a page displaying Psalm 83 (in the Septuagint numbering), which corresponds with Psalm 84 in the Masoretic numbering used in most English-language translations. Due to confusion regarding differences in numbering the Psalms, some news sites implied that the Psalter was open at the Masoretic Psalm 83 . That psalm contains such lines as "They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being
3726-428: The cover was "painted with black carbon -based pigment". The leather seems to have been used as a trial piece or sketchpad for composing patterns of interlace for other objects. On the inside there is a sheet of papyrus, presumably used as a liner to stiffen the cover somewhat. Low oxygen levels in the bog provide unusual preservation conditions, and bogs were often used by Irish monks as hiding places for valuables in
3807-419: The date of its overthrow.' Close to a historic crossing point of the River Shannon , the area has a long history of bridges and ferry crossings. The present Portumna bridge dates from 1911 (opening section replaced October 2008 ) Lorrha has a rich ecclesiastical history evidenced by the ruins and active religious buildings within the village. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Ruadhan (c. 1912), At
3888-497: The destruction of Israel. The psalter was in poor condition, due to the acidic peat bog which had, however, been responsible for preserving it. It was in visibly so bad a condition that someone in the British Museum put a picture of the mass in a staff area captioned "if you think you have a bad day ahead ...". The National Museum of Ireland consulted with specialists in archaeological conservation and book conservation about
3969-713: 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
4050-468: 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
4131-487: The face of Viking raids. In addition to low oxygen levels, sphagnum moss, of which the peat bog is composed, produces an antibiotic substance called sphagnan that binds with proteins on the surface of microorganisms, immobilising them. Its highly reactive carbonyl groups can alter chemicals and nutrients that would otherwise decompose organic matter. And above all the sphagnum moss causes organic material to undergo chemical changes itself that make it impervious to rot. It
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#17328799647544212-545: 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
4293-698: 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
4374-410: 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
4455-472: 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 ,
4536-563: 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
4617-634: The monastic Insular art of Britain and Ireland, and the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon missions to Europe. The earliest is the St Cuthbert Gospel of about 700 ( British Library ), and other examples probably of the mid-8th century are at Fulda on the continent. However the wallet-like style of the Faddan More binding, and that it does not seem to have been physically attached to the sewn-together pages, make it unique among surviving covers. The psalter contains
4698-771: 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
4779-463: 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
4860-407: The north, except two which look to the south. There are a great number of stone tablets inserted in the walls, most of which are highly ornamented, and bear Latin inscriptions. On one of these, which is of highly polished marble, is the coat of arms of the Mac Egan family.' To the east of the village stands the Church of Ireland on the site of St. Ruadhan 's church which was built c. 1000 AD and
4941-522: 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
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#17328799647545022-448: 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
5103-416: The pages without damaging or destroying them was expected to take months, and conservation work to take two years. The area around Faddan More Bog is rich in medieval history. Monastic foundations such as Lorrha and Terryglass in County Tipperary and Birr and Seirkieran in County Offaly are located nearby. The bog is owned by local brothers Kevin and Patrick Leonard. Six years before the psalter find,
5184-415: 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
5265-546: The psalter was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval manuscript in two centuries. During the conservation process, in the period 2006–2010, the inside of the leather cover was found to be lined with papyrus , probably as a stiffening; it has been suggested that this points to links between Irish Celtic Christianity and the Coptic churches at the time. The psalter joins the very small number of very early Western books that have survived fully intact with their original bookbindings . These mostly have their origins in
5346-436: 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 )
5427-432: 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
5508-452: 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
5589-401: The road that passes the present Church of Ireland cemetery. At the north side, and within a few paces of the abbey, is a ruinous old building, so much overgrown with ivy, that there is scarcely any part of the walls perceptible. from its similarity to most other military buildings, I am led to think that it is the ruins of a castle, notwithstanding the general opinion that it was an appendage to
5670-415: The roof. It served for a belfry, for which purpose it still answers. Within about three feet of the top of the side walls, and continued for half the length of the entire building are projecting stones placed at equal distances asunder in which bellcasts were made in order that the water might descend without having any connection with the walls. The building which was continued above these dripstones served as
5751-516: The south of the village are the remains of a Dominican Friary founded in the 13th century by Walter de Burgh , Earl of Ulster . The remains consist of: 'It is an oblong uncompact pile of a building, measuring one hundred and twenty feet by twenty four within the walls, and the side walls about twenty-six feet in height. The windows are well proportioned and have stone mullions, which branch out into two parts at top. over most of them are partly flat arches, badly executed, but yet capable of supporting
5832-658: 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
5913-594: 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
5994-523: 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
6075-643: 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
6156-512: 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. Lorrha Lorrha (from Irish : Lothra )
6237-470: Was itself built on the site of St. Ruadhan's Abbey , founded in the 6th century. Remains of two 8th-century high crosses stand in the churchyard. The Augustinian Abbey founded in the 12th century by the Order of Canons Regular stands nearby. The carved head over the door is thought to represent the wife of Walter De Burgh. Water for the monastic settlement was supplied from St. Ruadhan's well located south of
6318-465: 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
6399-678: 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
6480-442: 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,
6561-410: Was uncovered by bulldozer driver Eddie Fogarty, a worker extracting peat with a backhoe . Patrick Wallace, director of the National Museum, praised Fogarty for immediately having covered the book with damp soil, as exposure to dry air after so many centuries of dampness might have destroyed it. The book was initially stored in refrigeration at the National Museum. Identifying the safest way to pry open
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