146-652: The Irish language ( Irish : Gaeilge ) is, since 2022, an official language in Northern Ireland . The main dialect spoken there is Ulster Irish ( Gaeilge or Gaeilg Uladh ). Protection for the Irish language in Northern Ireland stems largely from the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2021 census, Irish was the main language of 0.3% of the population aged 3 and up, an increase from 0.2% in
292-540: 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
438-638: 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
584-560: 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
730-472: 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,
876-557: A decided minority. At the annual national convention in 1906 women were elected to seven of the forty-five positions on the Gaelic League executive. Executive members included Máire Ní Chinnéide , Úna Ní Fhaircheallaigh (Agnes O'Farrelly, who wrote pamphlets on behalf of the League), Bean an Doc Uí Choisdealbha, Máire Ní hAodáin, Máire de Builtéir , Nellie O'Brien, Eibhlín Ní Dhonnabháin, and Eibhlín Nic Niocaill . Máire de Builtéir, who
1022-541: 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
1168-460: 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
1314-566: A nation, he argued, is not morally raised by dwelling on its past. Rather it must deal with its present political, economic, and social problems, something of which Ireland is capable without assuming "the enormous burden of adopting what is now virtually a new language". Patrick Pearse, who had joined the League while in his teens, responded in An Claidheamh Soluis by defending a "critical traditionalism". The cultural self-belief promoted by
1460-559: A new constitution reverting to its pre 1915 non-political stance restating its aim as that of an Irish-speaking Ireland "Is í aidhm na hEagraíochta an Ghaeilge a athréimniú mar ghnáththeanga na hÉireann" ("It is the aim of the Organisation to reinstate the Irish language as the everyday language of Ireland") and dropping any reference to Irish freedom. In recent years Conradh na Gaeilge has remained central to campaigns to protect language rights throughout Ireland. This strategy encompasses
1606-514: A nightly half-hour programme, called Blas ('taste'), in Irish in the early 1980s, and there is now an Irish-language programme on the station every day. BBC Northern Ireland broadcast its first television programme in Irish in the early 1990s, SRL ('etc.'). In March 2005, TG4 began broadcasting from the Divis transmitter near Belfast, as a result of agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and
SECTION 10
#17330929836991752-574: 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
1898-554: 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
2044-551: A poetry reading at the Cumann Chluain Ard , an urban language revival club in the Gaeltacht Quarter of West Belfast . The Belfast Irish dialect, according to Louis de Paor, has even developed a "street slang", which been used in the poetry of Gearóid Mac Lochlainn and other radically innovative writers of Modern literature in Irish like him. The very controversial and extremely popular hip hop music trio Kneecap
2190-520: A precursor of the League earlier in the century: Cuideacht Gaoidhilge Uladh / T he Ulster Gaelic Society (1828–1843). The new Belfast branch was formed under the active patronage (until he left to become Church of Ireland Lord Bishop of Ossory ) of the Rev. John Baptiste Crozier and the presidency of his parishioner, Dr. John St Clair Boyd , both unionists, and of the Orange Order Grand Master,
2336-484: A regional or minority language for the "encouragement" and "facilitation" purposes of Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , provision for Irish was to meet the more stringent Part III obligations in respect of education, media and administration. In 2022, with unionist protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol having resulted in a further suspension of devolved government,
2482-611: 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
2628-538: 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
2774-551: A space in 'BPF', one of the parents, named Sue Pentel, played a major role in the making of the school and about two years after the opening of Gaelscoil na bhFál, a daycare service, Ionad Uíbh Eachach, was opened and founded and managed by Sue Pentel. The school and daycare both provide services through the Irish language and work together in the way that many of the children that attended Ionad Uíbh Eachach then go on to attend nursery- Primary 7 (Naí ionad- R7) in Gaelscoil na bhFál. This
2920-543: A subcommittee of the League to investigate the promotion of traditional Irish dance. Eventually, CLRG became a largely independent organisation, though it is required by its constitution to share three board members with the League. Conradh na Gaeilge, in alliance with other groups such as Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta , was instrumental in the community campaigns which led to the creation of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (1972), Údarás na Gaeltachta (1980), and TG4 (1996). The organisation successfully campaigned for
3066-582: A third of these speaking it exclusively. By the 1860s, of all the Roman Catholic seminaries, only St Jarlath's in Tuam was teaching in Irish. The Roman Catholic Church had, at that time, desired to "stamp out any lingering, semi-pagan remnants", which included the Irish language. Sir William Wilde in 1852 accordingly blamed the Catholic Church for the quick decline and was "shocked" by the rapid decline of both
SECTION 20
#17330929836993212-679: A unionist MLA was accused of mocking Irish in the Northern Irish Assembly . In November 2014, in response to a question about minority language policy the DUP 's Gregory Campbell said "Curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer" in what was meant to sound like "Thank you, speaker" in Irish which he later claimed was in an attempt to make a point about the continued political use of the language by some Sinn Féin MLAs in post 1998 Good Friday Agreement . In recent years, cross-community efforts have attempted to make
3358-537: 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
3504-584: 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
3650-507: Is a very valuable connection that not that many schools have and what with the Ionad providing after-school care it is both convenient for the school and parents. Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnaG) is the representative body for Irish-medium Education. It was set up in 2000 by the Department of Education to promote, facilitate and encourage Irish-medium Education. One of CnaG's central objectives
3796-448: 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
3942-429: Is also available worldwide on the internet at RaidióFáilte.com. Residents of Northern Ireland have access to web based media in Irish such as online newspaper Tuairisc.ie or online lifestyle magazine Nós . An Irish-language daily newspaper called Lá Nua ("new day") folded in 2008 due to lack of funding. The Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission administers an Irish Language Broadcast Fund (announced by
4088-772: Is also based in the Gaeltacht Quarter and performs rap music in the West Belfast urban dialect of Ulster Irish. Simultaneously, Linda Ervine and the Turas organisation based in East Belfast continues to seek, with considerable success, to promote the Irish language revival among Ulster Protestants . Most Irish speakers in Ulster today speak the Donegal dialect of Ulster Irish. Irish received official recognition in Northern Ireland for
4234-414: Is credited with suggesting the term Sinn Féin ) to Arthur Griffith made it clear that women could make their contribution to the cultural revival without relinquishing their traditional roles. "Let it be thoroughly understood", she insisted, "that when Irish women are invited to take part in the language movement, they are not required to plunge into the vortex of public life. No the work they can best do
4380-511: 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
4526-631: Is neither Protestant nor Catholic, it is neither a Unionist nor a Separatist ." By then, however, the Gaelic League was already being covertly infiltrated and politicised by operatives working for Thomas Clarke and the Irish Republican Brotherhood . At the same time, however, the Catholic Church in Ireland also began to believe in the worth of the language and had begun to take steps to ensure its survival. Ironically, however, both
Irish language in Northern Ireland - Misplaced Pages Continue
4672-515: 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
4818-412: 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
4964-449: Is to seek to extend the availability of Irish-medium Education to parents who wish to avail of it for their children. Irish language pre-schools and primary schools are now thriving and there are official Irish language streams in secondary schools in Maghera , Donaghmore , Castlewellan and Armagh . In December 2014 Minister for Education for Northern Ireland John O'Dowd announced that
5110-408: Is work to be done in the home. There mission is to make the homes of Ireland Irish". Formed in the wake of the disgrace and fall of the nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell and defeat of the second Home Rule Bill , the League drew upon a generation frustrated and disillusioned with electoral politics. But proponents of new and rival movements were sceptical of the cultural activism offered by
5256-547: Is wrong when people crave bread to offer them 'language and culture'". Offence taken at his successful play General John Regan , and his defence of Crawford's opposition to church control of education, strained Hannay's relations with nationalists and he withdrew from League. Meanwhile, in North America, Crawford (who had found no political home in Ireland) went on to campaign with Eamon de Valera for recognition and support for
5402-659: 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
5548-605: The Conradh na Gaeilge , he saw the IOO as "profoundly democratic in spirit" and independent of "the rich and the patronage of the great". Crawford, who stood for election to the League's executive committee, was critical of what he regarded as the League's impractical romanticism. In his paper, Irish Protestant , he suggested that the Irish Ireland movement needed an injection of "Ulsteria", an "industrial awakening on true economic lines: it
5694-605: The Gaelic League was founded in Belfast in 1895 with a non-sectarian and widely based membership, but the decline in Irish as a first language continued. Irish was in sharp decline throughout the whole of Ireland from the mid-1800s. From the late 1600s and early 1700s, the Church of Ireland made some attempts to revive the declining Irish language. The church printed Bibles and Prayer Books in Irish, and some churches, and some Protestant clergymen like William King of Dublin, held services in
5840-484: The Gaelic League ) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emerged as the successor of several 19th century groups such as the Gaelic Union. The organisation was a spearhead of the Gaelic revival and of Gaeilgeoir activism. While Hyde succeeded in drawing unionists to
5986-476: The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act . Conradh na Gaeilge , the Gaelic League, a successor to Ulick Bourke 's earlier Gaelic Union, was formed in 1893, at a time when Irish as a spoken language appeared to be on the verge of extinction. Analysis of the 1881 Census showed that at least 45% of those born in Ireland in the first decade of the 19th century had been brought up as Irish speakers. Figures from
Irish language in Northern Ireland - Misplaced Pages Continue
6132-470: The Irish Republican legitimist Sinn Féin political party , which has been accused by unionists of exploiting the Irish language revival for political gain. The favouring of the Irish language by "physical force republicans" has therefore led to it receiving mixed responses from unionist communities and politicians. In many unionist communities, the Irish language is regarded as a foreign language or
6278-746: The Irish language , including for the Life in the United Kingdom test , has been met with criticism from the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , of which the UK has ratified for the Cornish language , the Irish language , Manx Gaelic , the Scots & Ulster Scots dialects , Scottish Gaelic and the Welsh language . In a 2014 report detailing
6424-524: The Maze Prison . For republican prisoners, learning the Irish language in prison (aka 'Jailtacht') became a way in which to set themselves apart vis-à-vis the British authorities. More broadly, this use of the Irish language inspired many nationalists in Northern Ireland to use the language as a form of cultural expression and resistance to British rule. In particular, the Irish language has been used extensively by
6570-787: The Northern Ireland Office . Following Digital Switchover for terrestrial television transmissions in both parts of Ireland in 2012, TG4 is now carried on Freeview HD for viewers in Northern Ireland (channel 51) as well as to those households in Border areas that have spillover reception of the ROI Saorview platform (channel 104). TG4 also continues to be available on other TV delivery platforms across Northern Ireland: Sky (channel 163) and Virgin Cable customers in Belfast (channel 877). RTÉ's Irish-language radio station, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta based in
6716-619: 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 ")
6862-555: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in April 2004) to foster and develop an independent Irish-language television production sector in Northern Ireland. The European Commission authorised public funding for the fund in June 2005 considering that "since the aid aims to promote cultural products and the Irish Language, it can be authorised under EU Treaty rules that allow state aids for
7008-544: The United Kingdom Parliament incorporated the language provisions of New Decade, New Approach in the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act . The president of the Conradh na Gaeilge, Paula Melvin, hailed the passing of the legislation, but said the bill was "not our final destination". The organisation would turn its attention to both implementing and to strengthening the legislation: "painful experience with
7154-560: The republic proclaimed in 1916 . Ernest Blythe , who joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1909 with the distinction of maintaining for three years his membership of the Orange Order , had as his first Conradh na Gaeilge teacher Sinéad Flanagan , de Valera's future wife. To improve his knowledge of the Irish language, he lived in the County Kerry Gaeltacht earning his keep as an agricultural labourer. A similar path
7300-401: The "pathos" in that in "young men and women rushing to acquire the rudiments of Irish (and it seldom gets beyond that) in order to show that they are not as other nations", but suggested that it did not "correlate with the active desire for political freedom". Most leaders of the Gaelic League desired "a return to medievalism in thought, in literature, in pastimes, in music and even in dress", but
7446-611: 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
SECTION 50
#17330929836997592-460: The 1891 census suggested that just 3.5% were being raised speaking the language. Ireland had become an overwhelmingly English-speaking country. Spoken mainly by peasants and farm labourers in the poorer districts of the west of Ireland, Irish was widely seen, in the words of Matthew Arnold , as "the badge of a beaten race." The first aim of the League was to maintain the language in the Gaeltacht ,
7738-461: The 1911 census of Ireland, but after partition was not included in the Northern Ireland census until it was reintroduced in 1991, at the 1911 census, the six counties which would become Northern Ireland had 28,734 Irish speakers. According to the 1991 Census, 142,003 people (9.45% of the population) had some language skills ability in Irish. Note: The 1991 Census did not ask respondents if they understood Irish but could not read, write or speak it; this
7884-604: 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
8030-646: The 20th century. Irish as spoken in Counties Down and Fermanagh were the first to die out, but native speakers of varieties spoken in the Glens of Antrim and the Sperrin Mountains of County Tyrone and County Londonderry survived into the 1950s and 1970s respectively, whilst the Armagh dialect survived until the 1930s or '40s. Varieties of Irish indigenous to the territory of Northern Ireland finally became extinct when
8176-403: 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
8322-466: 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
8468-478: The Anglican and Presbyterian middle class, however, changed in the second half of the 19th century as the Gaelic Revival began being associated with support for Home Rule or Irish Republicanism . The English-born MP for South Londonderry, Thomas Lea proposed an amendment to the draft of the second Home Rule Bill that would have prevented the passing of laws which would increase Irish language use in state schools, legal courts and other public spheres. A branch of
8614-496: The Belfast Gaelic League in 1911). By 1923, only one branch of the Gaelic League was left in operation in Northern Ireland, but from a handful of branches in 1926 the number of branches peaked at 182 in 1946. In contrast to the perception of the Irish Free State 's policy of preserving areas of Irish-speaking countryside, activists in Northern Ireland concentrated on ensuring Irish could survive in urban contexts, organising trips to Irish-speaking areas to bolster urban enthusiasm. From
8760-537: The Department of Education were going to set up Northern Ireland's second gaelcholáiste in Dungiven Castle in County Londonderry . Gaelcholáiste Dhoire opened in September 2015. In the academic year 2018/19, over 6,000 children are enrolled in Irish-medium education: The British Council administers a scheme to recruit Irish language assistants for English-medium schools in Northern Ireland. In 2013, there were 309 entries for A-Level examinations in Irish and 2,078 for GCSE . BBC Radio Ulster began broadcasting
8906-404: 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
SECTION 60
#17330929836999052-424: The Irish Volunteers. Diarmuid Lynch of the IRB mobilised Brotherhood members positioned throughout the League to secure the nominations and votes required to appoint a new Coiste (executive) that "was safe from the IRB viewpoint". The first Ulster branch of the Gaelic League was formed in east Belfast in 1895, a year after the death of Robert Shipboy MacAdam who, with Dr. James MacDonnell , had presided over
9198-400: The Irish language has been regarded with suspicion by many unionists in Northern Ireland, who have associated it with the Republic of Ireland and with Irish republicanism . The Irish-language movement in Northern Ireland after 1921 responded to a lack of establishment support by pursuing a self-help social and recreational movement aimed at preserving Ulster Irish (an issue which had split
9344-406: The Irish language in Northern Ireland can be seen in many place names, for example the name of Belfast first appears in the year 668, and the Lagan even earlier ("Logia", Ptolemy's Geography 2,2,8). The Plantation of Ulster led to a decline in Gaelic culture, of which Irish was part – while some Scottish settlers were Scots-Gaelic speakers, English was made widespread by the plantation. Despite
9490-539: The Irish language more appealing to both sides of the community. Many local councils now use Irish bilingually with English (sometimes with Ulster Scots too) on many of its services in an attempt to neutralise the language. Some former loyalist prisoners such as Robin Stewart have even taken up learning the Irish language in east Belfast in an attempt to reclaim Irish identity and challenge Republicans about their version of Irish history and what it means to be Irish. The former Red Hand Commando prisoner William Smith learnt
9636-425: 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
9782-404: The Irish language was a significant marker of identity they now needed as a minority group. During The Troubles , the Irish language revival became increasingly politicised. Its survival is sometimes described as largely due to families in the nationalist Shaw's Road neighborhood of west Belfast , who during the 1960s decided to make the area a neo-Gaeltacht (a new Irish speaking area outside
9928-409: The Irish language was simply inspired by Irish republicanism and hatred of all things English . He opposed any teaching of Irish in primary schools as "money wasted" and "useless" as well as claiming that Irish was a vehicle for the dissemination of "seditious views." Following the partition of Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland (which remained part of the United Kingdom ),
10074-448: The League does not call for "folk attitudes of mind" or "folk conventions of form". Irish artists might have to "imbibe their Irishness from the peasant, since the peasants alone possess Irishism, but they need not and must not [...] be afraid of modern culture". Deriving "what is best in medieval Irish literature", the new Irish prose would be characterised by a "terseness", "crispness", and "plain straightforwardness" entirely conducive to
10220-488: The League took this non-political principle seriously enough to decline participation in the unveiling of a 1798 centenary monument to Wolfe Tone , much like the Gaelic Athletic Association the organisation served as an occasion and cover for nationalist recruitment. Seán T. O'Kelly recalls that, as early 1903, as a travelling manager for An Claidheamh Soluis, he was in a position to recruit young men for Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in every one of 32 counties. It
10366-440: The League's political neutrality of the League. Popular support for the revival of the language, he argued, sprang precisely from its role as a mark of Irish nationality. As the nationalist impulse behind the League became more obvious, and in particular as the League began to work more closely with the Catholic Church to secure support for teaching Irish in the schools, Unionists withdrew. Hyde's effort to leave space for unionists
10512-489: The League, the organisation increasingly gave expression to the nationalist impulse behind the language revival. From 1915, members of its executive acknowledged the leadership of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in the struggle for Irish statehood . After the creation of the Irish Free State , and limited advances with respect to the teaching and official use of the language, many members transferred their commitment to
10658-532: The League. Writing in Alice Milligan's Belfast monthly , labour and socialist leader James Connolly maintained that in the absence of a creed capable of challenging the rule of the capitalist, landlord and financier, the nationalism of the Irish language movement would achieve little. His friend and collaborator Frederick Ryan , secretary of the Irish National Theatre Society , acknowledged
10804-614: The Ministry of Finance baulked at the proposal for free secondary school education for Gaeltacht children (something that was not available anywhere in Ireland until the 1960s). The League was also alarmed by the Anglicising and cosmopolitan influences of state radio (great objection was made to its programming of Jazz). The failure of the Cumann na nGaedheal government to commit to a more comprehensive programme for defending and promoting Irish and what
10950-597: 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 ,
11096-458: The Republic of Ireland is also available in many areas in Northern Ireland. Raidió Fáilte a community radio station based in West Belfast covers the Greater Belfast area and started broadcasting in 2006 and broadcasts 24 hours per day seven days per week. It broadcasts a selection of programmes; music, chat, news, current affairs, sports, arts, literature, environmental and community issues. It
11242-460: The Rev. Richard Rutledge Kane. Claiming to afford a "common platform to Catholic and Protestant", by 1899 the League had nine branches in the city including one in the unionist Shankill ward where, in the 1911 census, 106 people recorded themselves as Irish speakers. For other Protestant pioneers of the Irish language in the north the League was a non-sectarian door into the nationalist community with whom their political sympathies lay. This
11388-510: The Ulster variant of Scots , under Part II of the Charter). Compliance with State obligations is assessed periodically by a Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe . The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 states: "It shall be the duty of the Department (of Education) to encourage and facilitate the development of Irish-medium education." A question about the Irish language was asked until
11534-452: The application of the charter in the UK, the committee were given no justification for the inequality in the treatment of Irish speakers in contrast to that of English, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh speakers, and that efforts to rectify the inequality were non-existent. Six families in Belfast established a Gaeltacht area in Belfast in the late 1960s and opened Bunscoil Phobal Feirste in 1970 as
11680-731: 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
11826-451: The demands of the modern nation-state and economy. With the foundation of the Irish Free State many members believed that the Gaelic League had taken language revival as far as it could and that the task now fell to the new Irish Government. They ceased their League activities and were absorbed into the new political parties and into state bodies such as the Army, Police, Civil Service, and into
11972-416: The early years of the Northern Ireland government, education in Irish was marginalised. The number of primary schools teaching Irish was halved between 1924 and 1927, and numbers studying Irish as an extra subject fell from 5531 to 1290 between 1923 and 1926. The subsidy for Irish as an extra subject was abolished in 1934. The last speakers of varieties of Irish native to what is now Northern Ireland died in
12118-713: 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
12264-515: The enactment of the Official Languages Act, 2003 which gave greater statutory protection to Irish speakers and created the position of An Coimisinéir Teanga (the Languages Commissioner). Conradh na Gaeilge was among the principal organisations responsible for co-ordinating the successful campaign to make Irish an official language of the European Union . In 2008 during the presidency of Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, Conradh na Gaeilge adopted
12410-468: 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
12556-487: 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
12702-477: The first Irish- medium school in Northern Ireland, and in 1984 was granted the status of a voluntary maintained primary school. The first Naíscoil (Irish-medium nursery school) opened in 1978. Not long after the opening of Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, a second all-Irish primary school opened, Gaelscoil na bhFál, situated on the Falls Road. Founded by the parents of children that wanted Irish education but couldn't find
12848-494: The first time in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement , and status as an official language in 2022. A cross-border body known as Foras na Gaeilge was established to promote the language in both Northern Ireland and the Republic , taking over the functions of Bord na Gaeilge . The British government in 2001 ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Irish (in respect only of Northern Ireland)
12994-532: The inspiration for the rare language enthusiast among the Young Irelanders , Thomas Davis ), Hyde argued that "in Anglicising ourselves wholesale we have thrown away with a light heart the best claim we have to nationality". Implicitly, this was a criticism of the national movement as it had developed since Catholic emancipation . Although a gaeilgeoir , Daniel O'Connell had declared himself "sufficiently utilitarian not to regret [the] gradual abandonment" of
13140-630: The language and Gaelic customs after the Famine . The power of the English language, in business and learning throughout much of the world also influenced the decline of Irish in Ireland. A letter from Dennis Heraghty of Letterkenny in 1886 to the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language complained that the parents in his area all wanted their children to learn English. Bishop MacCormac of Achonry , also in 1886, suggested that "People are apathetic about
13286-698: 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
13432-613: The language in 2011. The 2024 biopic film Kneecap , in which the actual band members play themselves alongside more experienced actors including Michael Fassbender , Josie Walker , and Simone Kirby , is set in the Gaeltacht Quarter in 2019. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2024, the first motion picture in the Irish language to do so. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
13578-465: The language of terrorists and therefore – unlike Catholic communities – in Protestant communities its inclusion in school curriculum and public notices continues to be strongly opposed. On the other hand, some moderate nationalists have been reluctant to use Irish too due to the paramilitary connotations associated with the language revival. Issues around the use of the Irish language were intensified when
13724-410: 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
13870-534: The language whilst in jail. The motto of the Red Hand Commando was the Irish phrase Lámh Dearg Abú which translated means 'Red Hand to Victory'. Linda Ervine , the sister-in-law of former Ulster Volunteer Force paramilitary and politician David Ervine , began learning the language and set up the Turas Irish-Language Project in the predominately Unionist East Belfast area for others to learn
14016-425: 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 ,
14162-492: The language. For Emancipator's keenest supporters, the "positive and unmistakable" mark of distinction between Irish and English was "the distinction created by religion". Hyde's project spoke to a new exclusionary sense of what it is to be Irish. The simple practice of referring to Gaelic as "the Irish language", consciously or not, rendered "those who did not speak it as less Irish, and those who did not even acknowledge its status as non-Irish". The League rapidly developed into
14308-492: The language. However, the English language had been the language of learning and the Roman Catholic Church continued to use Ecclesiastical Latin for Mass and English in sermons. English was the language of the industrial east of the island, and Irish started to become confined to the more rural west. The proportion of Irish speakers had fallen from about half of the population in 1800 to 23% by 1851, and with only about
14454-409: The largely western districts in which spoken Irish survived. The late 20th-century Gaeilgeoir activist Aodán Mac Póilin notes, however, that "the main ideological impact of the language movement was not in the Gaeltacht , but among English-speaking nationalists". The League developed "both a conservationist and a revivalist role". The League's first president, Douglas Hyde ( Dúbhghlás de hÍde ),
14600-852: The largest Irish-speaking area in the former province of Ulster ; County Donegal ; had gone into the Irish Free State. However, there were Gaeltacht areas (communities who continued to speak Irish as their first language) in Northern Ireland at the time; the most prominent of these were the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone and County Londonderry , Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim in County Antrim , Aghyaran in County Tyrone, parts of south Armagh and Cashel in south-west County Fermanagh . Since 1921,
14746-1115: The last native speaker of Rathlin Irish died in 1985. Séamus Bhriain Mac Amhlaigh, who died in 1983, was reportedly the last native-speaker of Antrim Irish. A wealth of recordings and stories told by Mac Amhlaigh, however, were recorded before his death by researchers from Queen's University in Belfast. At the same time, The Troubles exacerbated the politicisation of the Irish language in Northern Ireland. Many republicans in Northern Ireland, including former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams , learned Irish while in prison. Furthermore, co-operative housing scheme in West Belfast aimed at creating an urban neo-Gaeltacht opened in 1969 in Shaw's Road . According to Innti poet and scholar of Modern literature in Irish Louis de Paor , this resulted in Belfast Irish , "a new urban dialect", of Ulster Irish , that
14892-484: The leading institution promoting the Gaelic Revival , organising Irish classes and student immersions in the Gaeltacht , and publishing in Irish. The League's first newspaper was An Claidheamh Soluis (The Sword of Light) and its most noted editor was Pádraig Pearse . The motto of the League was Sinn Féin, Sinn Féin amháin (Ourselves, Ourselves alone). Among the League's few campaign successes in its first decade
15038-505: 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
15184-771: 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
15330-602: The nationalism implicit in the League's revivalist project. With the aid of Eugene O'Growney (author of Simple Lessons in Irish ) Eoin MacNeill , Thomas O'Neill Russell and others, the League was launched in the wake of an address Hyde delivered to the Irish National Literary Society, on 25 November 1892: ‘"The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland’". Citing Giuseppe Mazzini (the Italian nationalist who had been
15476-463: 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
15622-539: The new institutions, political parties and education system. In 2008, Conradh na Gaeilge adopted a new constitution, dropping the post-1915 references to "Irish freedom", while reaffirming the ambition to restore Irish as the language of everyday life throughout Ireland. In Northern Ireland , it campaigned for an Irish Language Act . In the absence of an agreed Stormont executive , in 2022 the Westminster Parliament incorporated many of its proposed provisions in
15768-680: The novelist George A. Birmingham ), originally of Belfast , was co-opted onto the League's national executive body in December 1904 while a Church of Ireland (Anglican) rector in Westport in County Mayo . Hyde and Arthur Griffith sympathised with Hannay's desire for a "union of the two Irish democracies", Catholic in the south and Protestant in the north. In the north Hannay saw a potential ally in Lindsay Crawford and his Independent Orange Order . Like
15914-580: 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
16060-498: 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
16206-474: The plantation Irish continued to be spoken in non-planted areas until the mass immigration in the 19th century caused by economic factors (see below for further). Intellectuals in Belfast took an antiquarian interest in Irish-language culture towards the end of the 18th century, and an Irish-language magazine Bolg an tSolair was published in 1795. The Ulster Gaelic Society was founded in 1830. Attitudes among
16352-539: 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
16498-574: The preservation of our ancient language" and, "They see that Shakespeare's tongue is the one in use in America and the Colonies." Although there had been attempts and societies formed to reverse the declining trend for the language, it was not until the rise of the Gaelic League , founded in 1893, that any measure of success was achieved. Douglas Hyde , in New York in 1905, said, "The Irish language, thank God,
16644-476: The previous survey, while 12.4% of that population had some ability in Irish, also an increase from previous census results. As well, for the first time, the census asked the frequency of speaking Irish. 43,557 said they spoke Irish on a daily basis, which accounts for 2.43% of Northern Ireland's population. As in other parts of Ireland, Irish was the main language in the region of present-day Northern Ireland for most of its recorded history. The historic influence of
16790-413: The principal, publicly acknowledged, sticking points in the three years of on and off again negotiations required to restore the power-sharing executive in 2020. The 2020 New Decade, New Approach agreement promised both the Irish language and Ulster-Scots new Commissioners to "support" and "enhance" their development but does not accord them equal legal status. While Ulster Scots was to be recognised as
16936-440: The promotion of culture" . The Irish language in Northern Ireland has long been associated with identity. Prior to the turn of the 20th century, the Irish language was embraced by both sides of the community, although in decline. But the partition of Ireland in 1921 was a turning point in attitudes towards the language. Nationalists in Northern Ireland who felt that they had been abandoned by their southern counterparts felt that
17082-599: The promotion of increased investment in Gaeltacht areas, advocacy for increased provision of state services through Irish, the development of Irish language hubs in urban areas, and the Acht Anois campaign for the enactment of an Irish Language Act to protect the language in Northern Ireland . The decision of the Democratic Unionist Party to resist a stand-alone Irish Language Act , in part by insisting on compensating provisions for Ulster Scots , became one of
17228-557: The public education system. He also stated that Irish-speaking children should continue being subjected to coercive Anglicization in the schools so that the Irish language would soon become extinct . Even so, in 1905 the Irish Unionist Party had an Irish slogan, which it proudly displayed at a convention. The British civil service officials of the Intermediate Board, the organisation through which public education policy
17374-487: 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 )
17520-432: 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
17666-569: 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
17812-442: The school system in which Irish was made compulsory. With the organisation paying a less prominent role in public life, It fared badly in the 1925 Seanad election . All its endorsed candidates, including Hyde, were rejected. From 1926 there was growing disquiet among League members over the government's failure to implement the recommendations of its own Gaeltacht Commission. Despite being presided over by Blythe, one of their own,
17958-536: The son of a Church of Ireland rector from County Roscommon , helped create an ethos in the early days that attracted a number of unionists into its ranks. Remarkably, these included the Rev. Richard Kane, Grand Master of the Belfast Orange Lodge and organiser of the Anti- Home Rule Convention of 1892. But from the beginning there was an unresolved conflict between non-political rhetoric and
18104-738: The sphere of home and community in which women were accorded initiative. In comparison to the political parties (whether republican or constitutionalist), organisations, like the League, promoting a cultural agenda were comparatively open and receptive to women. The League encouraged female participation from the start and women filled prominent roles. Local notables, such as Lady Gregory in Galway, Lady Esmonde in County Wexford, and Mary Spring Rice in County Limerick, and others such as Máire Ní Shúilleabháin and Norma Borthwick , founded and led branches. In positions of trust, however, women remained
18250-494: The state and Church interference became something that Irish people began to resent. Protestants and Unionists alike began to back away from the Gaelic revival as, besides the dominant role of the Roman Catholic Church by then, Irish people were starting to be described as a " race ". James Alexander Rentoul , MP for Down East, stated at Westminster in July 1900 that the Irish language had no value and should not receive any support by
18396-434: The traditional Gaeltachta í). The result was a neighborhood now known as the Gaeltacht Quarter , which has become a centre for Modern literature in Irish . The hip hop music trio Kneecap is also based in the Gaeltacht Quarter and performs rap music in the West Belfast urban dialect of Ulster Irish. A second wave of the Irish language revival movement in Northern Ireland during the 1970s occurred in another locale –
18542-658: 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
18688-487: The work attempted by Fenianism or the Society of United Irishmen [...] The Irish language is a political weapon of the first importance against English encroachment. The issue of the League's political independence was decided at its Annual General Meeting held in Dundalk in 1915. Rumours circulated that John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party were seeking to take over the League as they had earlier attempted to take over
18834-594: 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
18980-477: Was "forged in the heat of Belfast during The Troubles " and which is now the main dialect spoken in the Gaeltacht Quarter . To lend support for this effort during the early 1980s, Dublin-based Connaught Irish Modernist poet Máirtín Ó Direáin chose to risk both crossing what was still a "hard border" and the danger of falling victim to the ongoing paramilitary violence by Ulster Loyalists during The Troubles. Ó Direáin travelled to Northern Ireland and gave
19126-565: Was acceptance by the Post Office of parcels and letters addressed in Irish, and the recognition of St. Patrick's Day as a national holiday. With national feeling heightened in part by the Boer War , membership increased from 1900. The number of branches rose from 43 in 1897 to 600 in 1904 with a membership of 50,000. A more substantial victory followed: in 1904 Irish was introduced into the national school curriculum. The Catholic church, however,
19272-523: 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
19418-643: 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
19564-605: 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. Gaelic League Conradh na Gaeilge ( Irish pronunciation: [ˈkɔn̪ˠɾˠə n̪ˠə ˈɡeːlʲɟə] ; historically known in English as
19710-494: Was followed by IRB organiser of the Irish Volunteers, Bulmer Hobson . Alice Milligan was exceptional among the League's leading activists as a northern Protestant, but less so as a woman. All the priorities of the larger Irish-Ireland movement which developed around the revival of the language, including teaching children a national history and literature, and the use and consumption of Irish-made products, were associated with
19856-567: Was implemented, attempted to frustrate the improvement of Irish-medium education provision so severely that the sitting Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , John Hamilton-Gordon , had to write to the Board on 25 July 1906 to demand that the provision be implemented. In response, John Lonsdale , MP for Mid Armagh and member of the Ulster Unionist Council , claimed that the Gaelic movement which supported
20002-430: Was lost. They were themselves moving toward a distinct Ulster unionism which rejected any form of Irish cultural identity. Increasingly Republicans were blunt about what they saw as the League's place within the nationalist movement. The paper, Irish Freedom , declared: The work of the Gaelic League is to prevent the assimilation of the Irish nation by the English nation [...] The work is as essentially anti-English as
20148-405: Was not an early ally. The clergy had played a significant role in the decline of the language. In the National schools they had punished children for speaking it (a legacy, in part, of the Irish-language missionary activity of the Protestant churches). Hyde declared that "The Irish language, thank God, is neither Protestant nor Catholic, it is neither a Unionist nor a Separatist ." Although
20294-472: Was only asked in subsequent censuses. The ULTACH Trust ( Iontaobhas ULTACH ) was established in 1989 by Irish language enthusiasts to attract funding from the British Government for language projects and to broaden the appeal of the language on a cross-community basis (among both Protestants and Catholics ) The Shaw's Road Gaeltacht was joined in 2002 by the Gaeltacht Quarter in west Belfast. The lack of provision for legal and citizenship services in
20440-403: 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
20586-404: Was perceived, typically in conservative folk terms, as its supporting culture, helped rally support for de Valera's anti-Treaty republican party Fianna Fail . Partly in recognition of his services in the League services, under de Valera's new constitution , Hyde served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. In 1927, An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) was founded as
20732-410: Was specified under Part III of the Charter, thus giving it a degree of protection and status comparable to the Scottish Gaelic in Scotland. This included a range of specific undertakings in relation to education, translation of statutes, interaction with public authorities, the use of placenames, media access, support for cultural activities and other matters (a lower level of recognition was accorded to
20878-527: 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
21024-617: Was the case for Alice Milligan , publisher in Belfast of The Shan Van Vocht . Milligan's command of Irish was never fluent, and on that basis Patrick Pearse was to object when, in 1904, the Gaelic League hired her as a travelling lecturer. She proved herself by establishing new branches throughout Ireland and raising funds along the way. In the north, in Ulster , she focused on the more difficult task of recruiting Protestants, working with, among other activists, Hyde , Ada McNeill, Roger Casement , Alice Stopford Green , Stephen Gwynn , and Seamus McManus. James Owen Hannay (better known as
21170-545: Was through the League that many future leaders of the independence struggle first met, laying the foundation for groups such as the Irish Volunteers (1913). "While being non-political", Michael Collins saw the League, by "its very nature", as "intensely national". Under a system of foreign rule that made the people "forget to look to themselves, and to turn their backs upon their own country", it did "more than any other movement to restore national pride, honour and self-respect". Arthur Griffith had been similarly dismissive of
21316-442: 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,
#698301