Irish

## Overview

The **Irish language** (*Gaeilge*), also sometimes referred to as **Gaelic** or the **Irish Gaelic language**, is a Goidelic language (Gaelic) of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is spoken as a first languageby a small minority of Irish people and as a second language by a larger group of non-native speakers.

Irish has been the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought it with them to other regions, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man, where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx respectively. It has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe.

Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and is an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland. It is also 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 of Ireland.

## Current Status

### Republic of Ireland

Irish is recognized by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland (English is the other official language). Despite this, almost all government debates and business are conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde, was inaugurated as 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.

From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see also History of the Republic of Ireland), a degree of proficiency in Irish was required of all those newly appointed to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland, including postal workers, tax collectors, agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána, etc. By law if a Garda was stopped and addressed in Irish he had to respond in Irish as well. Proficiency in just one official language for entrance to the public service was introduced in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement.

Although the Irish requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools within the Republic which receive public money (see also Education in the Republic of Ireland). Those wishing to teach in primary schools in the State must also pass a compulsory examination called *Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge*. The need for a pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English for entry to the Garda Síochána (police) was introduced in September 2005, and recruits are given lessons in the language during their two years of training. The most important 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 a degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE/GCSE examinations. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in mainstream (English-medium) schools to achieve competence in the language, even after fourteen years. 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 speakers and some incredulity while speaking only Irish in Dublin. He 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. Most of these are products of an independent education system in which Irish is the sole language of instruction. Such schools are known as *Gaelscoileanna*. These Irish-medium schools send a much higher proportion of pupils on to tertiary level than do the mainstream schools, and it seems increasingly likely that, within a generation, habitual users of Irish will 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 the other official language, if not already passed in both official languages.

In the 2016 census, around 10% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly.

### Gaeltacht

There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language. These

regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht, or in the plural as *Gaeltachtaí*. While the Gaeltacht's fluent Irish speakers, whose numbers have been estimated at twenty or thirty thousand, 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 is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues, to some extent, to be spoken as a community vernacular.

According to data compiled by the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, only one quarter of households in officially 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 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 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 the *Fíor-Ghaeltacht* ("true Gaeltacht"), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish.

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 most popular summertime Gaeltacht is Coláiste Lurgan in Galway. Its main aim is to promote Irish speaking among young people in an enjoyable and stimulating way.

### Northern Ireland

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 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. The language received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. While the British government promised to create legislation encouraging the language as part of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement, as of 2014 it has yet to do so. The Irish language has often been used as a bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg. There is currently an ongoing debate in relation to the status of the language in the form of an Irish Language Act. An Dream Dearg have launched a campaign in favour of such an Act called *Acht na Gaeilge Anois* ("Irish Language Act Now").

### Outside of Ireland

The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora, chiefly to Britain and North America, but also to Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. The first large movements began in 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 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.

Relatively few of the emigrants were literate in Irish, but manuscripts in the language were brought to both Australia and the United States, and it was in the United States that the first newspaper to make significant use of Irish was established: An Gaodhal. In Australia, too, the language found its way into print. The Gaelic revival, which started in Ireland in the 1890s, found a response abroad, with branches of Conradh na Gaeilge being established in all the countries to which Irish speakers had emigrated.

The decline of Irish in Ireland and a slowing of emigration helped to ensure a decline in the language abroad, along with natural attrition in the host countries. Despite this, small groups of enthusiasts continued to learn and cultivate Irish in diaspora countries and elsewhere, a trend which strengthened in the second half of the 20th century. Today the language is taught at tertiary level in North America, Australia and Europe, and Irish speakers outside Ireland contribute to journalism and literature in the language. There are significant Irish-speaking networks in the United States and Canada; figures released for the period 2006–2008 show that 22,279 Americans claimed to speak Irish at home.

The Irish language is also one of the languages of the Celtic League, a non-governmental organisation that promotes self-determination and Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man, known as the Celtic nations. It places particular emphasis on the indigenous Celtic languages. It is recognised by the United Nations as a non-governmental organisation with "Roster Status" and is part of the UN's Economic and Social Council. The organisation has branches in all the Celtic nations and in Patagonia, Argentina, New York City, US, and London, UK.

Irish was spoken as a community language until the early 20th century on the island of Newfoundland, in a form known as Newfoundland Irish.

## Irish excerpt from Wikipedia article "An Ghaeilge"

Thosaigh litríocht na Gaeilge ag forbairt as an nua, nuair a tháinig úrscéal an Athar Peadar Ua Laoghaire, *Séadna*, i gcló go gairid i ndiaidh do Dhubhghlas de hÍde a óráid mhór a thabhairt uaidh faoi chomh tábhachtach is a bhí sé an galldachas a ruaigedh as Éirinn. Is fíor nach raibh i leabhar an Athar Peadar ach dornán scéalta ón mbéaloideas, agus iad ceangailte le chéile le scéal an ghréasaí Séadna féin, fear a dhíol a anam leis an diabhal agus ar diúltaíodh faoina ligean isteach in Ifreann chomh maith leis na Flaithis. Mar sin féin, bhí Gaeilge líofa nádúrtha ann, rud a thaitin go mór mór le lucht athbheochana na teangan. I ndiaidh *Shéadna*, aistriúcháin nó athinsintí ar scéalta clasaiceacha ba mhó a tháinig ó pheann an Athar Pheadair, leithéidí an leagain Ghaeilge a rinne sé de *Don Quixote*, agus dála go leor daoine aithnidiúla eile i saol na Gaeilge, scríobh sé dírbheathaisnéis freisin, *Mo Scéal Féin*, a áirítear ar bhunchlocha litríocht na Gaeilge chomh maith céanna. Is mar réabhlóidí ba mhó a bhain Pádraig Mac Piarais amach a chlú iarbháis, ach is gá aird a tharraingt air gur scríbhneoir Gaeilge a bhí ann, leis. Scríobh sé roinnt gearrscéalta rómansúla, traigéideacha fiú, agus iad suite i saol na Gaeltachta. Is é "Eoghainín na nÉan" an ceann is mó a théann i bhfeidhm ar an léitheoir, go háirithe ar an léitheoir atá eolach ar chinniúint an scríbhneora.

Bhí Pádraic Ó Conaire ina státseirbhíseach sóisearach i Londain nuair a chuala sé iomrá ar athbheochan liteartha na Gaeilge. B'as Gaillimh dó, agus canúint an cheantair timpeall aige, siúd is gur féidir lorg Ghaeilge Chontae an Chláir a aithint ar a stíl fosta, canúint a chuaigh i léig idir an dá linn. Scríobh sé scéalta faoi imirce na nÉireannach go Sasana, faoin saol crua a bhí acu thall ansin, faoin bhfánaíocht agus faoi athbheochan an spioraid náisiúnta. B'é an t-úrscéal greanntragóideach úd "Deoraíocht" a mhórshaothar. Thairis sin, scríobh sé roinnt mhaith gearrscéalta agus altanna iriseoireachta. Is iad na dírbheathaisnéisí Gaeltachta a cuireadh i gcló idir an dá chogadh domhanda, áfach, na clasaicigh mhóra chomhaimseartha. An triúr is clúití acu, is iad *An tOileánach* le Tomás Ó Criomhthain, *Peig*—tuairisc a thug Peig Sayers ar imeachtaí a beatha féin, agus "Fiche Bliain ag Fás" le Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. B'as an mBlascaod Mór do na dírbheathaisnéisithe seo: seandaoine a bhí sa chéad dís acu, agus iad ag tabhairt cur síos ar a saol féin i nGaeilge ghlan an oileáin; ach fear óg a bhí i Muiris, agus súil eile ar fad aige ar na cineálacha imeachtaí a bhí ar siúl san áit. Thar aon rud eile, bhí na leabhair seo ceaptha le Gaeilge mhaith dhúchasach de chuid na sean-Ghaeltachtaaonteangaí a scaipeadh i measc na scoláirí, ach is é an gnáthghearán inniu ná gur baineadh mí-úsáid pholaitiúil as na leabhair seo—Peig go háirithe—le coimeádachas cultúrtha agus reiligiúnda a chur chun cinn i measc na bpáistí, dála shíolteagasc na dtíortha ollsmachtúla.