(''Gaeilge''), a
Goidelic Language spoken in the
Republic Of Ireland ,
Northern Ireland ,
Canada , and the
United States , is
Constitutionally recognised as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. On
13 June 2005 , EU foreign ministers unanimously decided to make Irish an
Official Language of the
European Union . The new arrangements will come into effect on
1 January 2007 .
According to statistics released by the
Government Of Ireland in 2004, there are approximately 1.6 million speakers of Irish in the Republic. Of these, 350,000 use Irish every day, 155,000 weekly, 585,000 less often, 460,000 never, and 30,000 didn't state how often. However, these statistics are often disputed by Irish language activists and their opponents. 80,000 people has been quoted as the number of people in the
Gaeltacht who use the language as their first, daily language. Other data state that 165,000 can speak Irish in
Northern Ireland . The results of the
United States Census, 2000 suggest that some 25,000 people use the language at home in the United States.http://www.usenglish.org/foundation/research/lia/languages/irish_gaelic.pdf
For the
English Language as it is spoken in Ireland, see
Hiberno-English .
The language is often referred to in
English as (
IPA : ), or '''Irish Gaelic.''' This has generally been the common name for the language in the Irish diaspora. Within many parts of Ireland, it has inevitably acquired political significance. Referring to the language as "Gaelic" suggests that the language is as distant and unrelated to modern Irish life as the civilisation of the ancient Gaels. Calling it ''Irish,'' on the other hand, indicates that it is and should be the proper national language of the Irish people, and this is the generally accepted term among scholars and in the Republic of Ireland's Constitution. Some Irish people however, consider the use of the word "Irish" to describe the language pushes the point of view that being Irish is synonymous with being Gaelic.
Use of the term ''Irish'' also avoids confusion with ''', originally a
Scots form of the word ''Irish'', is no longer used and in most contexts is also considered derogatory. Scottish people often refer to Scottish Gaelic as "the Gallic".
In the ''Caighdeán Oifigiúil'' (the official written standard) the name of the language is , which reflects the southern
Connacht pronunciation . Before the spelling reform of
1948 , this form was spelled '''Gaedhilge'''; originally this was the
Genitive of '''Gaedhealg''', the form used in classical Modern Irish. Older spellings of this include '''Gaoidhealg''' in Middle Irish and '''Goídelc''' in
Old Irish .
Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht ''Gaeilge'' mentioned above, include /'''Gaeilic'''/'''Gaeilig''' (pronounced ) in
County Donegal and parts of
County Mayo , north
County Antrim and parts of
Belfast ; '''Gaedhealaing'''/'''Gaoluinn'''/'''Gaelainn''' (pronounced ) in
Munster , and '''Gaedhlag''' (pronounced ) in
Omeath ,
County Louth .
Irish is given recognition by the
Constitution Of Ireland as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland (with
English being a second official language), despite the limited distribution of fluency among the population of that country. Since the State was founded in the 1920s as the
Irish Free State (see also ''
History Of The Republic Of Ireland ''), the
Irish Government required a degree of proficiency in Irish for all
Civil Service positions (including postal workers, tax officials, agricultural inspectors, etc.), as well as for employees of state companies (e.g.
Aer Lingus ,
RTÉ ,
ESB , etc). Proficiency in Irish for entrance to the public service ceased to be a compulsory requirement in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organizations like the
Language Freedom Movement . While the requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, such as teaching, 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 ''). The need for a pass in
Leaving Certificate Irish for entry to the
Gardaí (police) was dropped in September 2005, although applicants are given lessons in the language during the two years of training. Most official documents of the Irish Government are published in both Irish and English.
The case on the matter
- it is expected that the requirement may be repealed in due course[http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?maincat=10861&pcategory=10861&ecategory=10876§ionpage=13637&language=EN&link=link001&page=1&doc=29800 .
As a
Treaty Language Of The European Union , the highest-level documents of the EU are translated into Irish; in addition, the language has also recently received a degree of
Formal Recognition In Northern Ireland from the
United Kingdom , under the
Good Friday Agreement .
Furthermore, Irish will become an official language of the European Union beginning
January 1 ,
2007 .
There are pockets of Ireland where Irish is spoken as a traditional,
Native Language . These regions are known as the
Gaeltacht . These are in
County Galway (''Contae na Gaillimhe''), including
Connemara (''Conamara'') and the
Aran Islands (''na hOileáin Árann''); on the west coast of
County Donegal (''Contae Dhún na nGall''; in the part which is known as
Tyrconnell (''Tír Chonaill''); and
Dingle Peninsula (''Corca Dhuibhne'') in
County Kerry (''Contae Chiarraí''). Smaller ones also exist in
Mayo (''Contae Mhaigh Eo''),
Meath (''Contae na Mí''),
Waterford (''Contae Phort Láirge''), and
Cork (''Contae Chorcaí''). However, even within the Gaeltacht areas, the Irish-speaking populations have declined since the Gaeltacht boundaries were drawn up.
Gweedore ,
County Donegal is the largest
Gaeltacht parish in
Ireland .
The numerically and socially strongest Gaeltacht areas are those of South Connemara, the extreme west of Dingle and in and northwest Tyrconnell, in which a significant proportion of residents use Irish as a community language and in which children often speak the language with each other. These areas are often referred to as the ''Fíor-Ghaeltacht'' ("true Gaeltacht") and collectively have a population of just under 10,000, of which over 80% use the language daily. The highest proportions of daily Irish speakers in the community are found in
Rosmuck (over 91%), and around
Bloody Foreland (''Cnoc na Fola'') in Tyrconnell (88-89%).
There are a number of distinct dialects of Irish. Roughly speaking, the three major dialect areas coincide with the provinces of
Munster (''Cúige Mumhan''),
Connacht (''Cúige Chonnacht'') and
Ulster (''Cúige Uladh'').
See Also: Munster Irish
Munster Irish is spoken in the Gaeltachtaí of Kerry (''Contae Chiarraí''), Muskerry (''Múscraí''),
Cape Clear (''Oileán Cléire'') in the western part of
County Cork (''Contae Chorcaí''), and the tiny pocket of Irish-speakers in An Rinn near
Dungarvan (''Dún Garbháin'') in County Waterford (''Contae Phort Láirge''). The most important subdivision in Munster is that between Decies Irish (spoken in Waterford) and the rest of Munster Irish.
Some typical features of Munster Irish are:
# The use of personal endings instead of pronouns with verbs, thus "I must" is in Munster ''caithfead'', while other dialects prefer ''caithfidh mé'' (''mé'' means "I"). "I was and you were" is ''Bhíos agus bhís'' in Munster but ''Bhí mé agus bhí tú'' in other dialects.
# In front of nasals and "ll" some short vowels are lengthened while other are diphthongised.
# A
Copula -construction involving ''is ea'' is frequently used.
See Also: Connacht Irish
The strongest dialect of Connacht Irish is to be found in
Connemara and the
Aran Islands . In some regards this dialect is quite different from general Connacht Irish but since most Connacht dialects have died out during the last century Connemara Irish is sometimes seen as Connacht Irish. Much closer to the traditional Connacht Irish is the very threatened dialect spoken in the region on the border between Galway (''Gaillimh'') and Mayo (''Maigh Eo''). The Irish of
Tourmakeady (''Tuar Mhic Éadaigh'') in southern Mayo (''Maigh Eo Theas'') and Joyce Country (''Dúthaigh Sheoige'') are considered the living Irish dialects closest to Middle Irish. Also, the northern Mayo dialect of Erris (''Iorras'') and
Achill (''Acaill'') is in grammar and word-building essentially a Connacht dialect; but shows an affinity in vocabulary with Ulster Irish, due to large-scale immigration of dispossessed people following the
Plantation Of Ulster .
Connemara Irish is very popular with learners, thanks to Mícheál Ó Siadhail's self-teaching textbook ''Learning Irish''. However, there are features in Connemara Irish outside the official standard—notably the preference for verbal nouns ending in -achan, such as ''lagachan'' instead of ''lagú'', "weakening". The non-standard pronunciation with lengthened vowels and heavily reduced endings give Connemara Irish its distinct sound.
The distinguishing features of this dialect include the prounouncing of 'bh' as 'w', rather than as 'v' in other parts of the country: for example 'Ní raibh' is pronounced "Ni raow" in Connacht as opposed to "Ni rev" elsewhere. In addition Connacht speakers tend to put the "we" pronoun at the end of the verb rather than with the verb itself: for example "Bhí muid" is used for 'we were' instead of "Bhíomar" elsewhere. This has become a common teaching practice in schools as it is a much easier construction of any verb in the 'we' form.
Connacht Irish tends to be more widespread than any other dialect, as most Irish teachers tend to come from there, although, obviously, there are many exceptions.
See Also: Ulster Irish
The most important of the
Ulster dialects today is that of the Rosses (''na Rosa''), which has been used extensively in literature by such authors as the brothers
Séamus Ó Grianna and
Seosamh Mac Grianna , locally known as Jimí Fheilimí and Joe Fheilimí. This dialect is essentially the same as that in
Gweedore (''Gaoth Dobhair''= Inlet of Streaming Water), the same dialect used by native speaker
Enya (''Eithne'') and her siblings in
Clannad (''Clann as Dobhar'' = Family from the Water).
Ulster Irish sounds very different and shares several unusual features with
Scottish Gaelic , as well as having lots of characteristic words and shades of meanings. However, since the demise of those Irish dialects spoken natively in what is today
Northern Ireland , it is probably an exaggeration to see Ulster Irish as an intermediary form between Scottish Gaelic and the southern and western dialects of Irish. Indeed, Scottish Gaelic does have lots of non-Ulster features in common with Munster Irish, too.
One noticeable trait of Ulster Irish is the use of the negative participle ''cha(n)'', in place of the Munster and Connaught version ''ní''. Even in Ulster, ''cha(n)'', most typical of Scottish Gaelic, has ousted the more common ''ní'' only in easternmost dialects (including the now defunct ones once spoken in what is now Northern Ireland). The practice seems to be that ''cha(n)'' is most usually used when answering to a statement, either confirming a negative statement (''Níl aon mhaith ann'' - ''Chan fhuil, leoga'' = "It is no good" - "Indeed it isn't") or contesting an affirmative one (''Tá sé go maith'' - ''Chan fhuil!'' = "It is good" - "No, it isn't!"), while ''ní'' is preferred in answering a question (''An bhfuil aon mhaith ann?'' - ''Níl'' = "Is it any good?" - "No").
The dialects of Irish native to
Leinster , the fourth province of Ireland, became extinct during the
20th Century , but records of some of these were made by the
Irish Folklore Commission among other bodies prior to this.
The present-day Irish of Meath (in Leinster) is a special case. It belongs to the Connemara dialect, as the Irish-speaking community in Meath is simply a group of mostly Connemara speakers who moved there in the
1930s , after a land reform campaign spearheaded by
Máirtín Ó Cadhain (subsequently one of the greatest modernist writers in the language).
In areas outside the traditional Gaeltacht, where standard Irish was learnt in schools, this has become the "dialect" of learners of the language. What has been called "
Dublin Irish" or "Gaelscoil Irish" has also arisen, that is Irish heavily influenced by English. English idioms are translated directly, e.g. "Tabhair suas" for Give up when the verb "Lig" should be used. English grammar is sometimes used straight when not applicable to Irish. Often, when the speaker doesn't know a word, the English will be substituted, sometimes with "-áil" affixed. "-áil" is generally an ending for the verbal noun of a verb, but when added to an English word, this becomes the stem, e.g. vótáil (''to vote''). Many "Béarlachas" (false Irish based on English) words and phrases are used, e.g. pioc, sórt, saghas, féar plé etc. Also, typical interjection words often used in English and especially English influenced by America are used, e.g. like, man, so, etc. are used un-translated in Irish.
Students in the Eastern part of Ireland tend to pronounce the Irish words in an English way rather than in a Gaelic way. This is possibly due to teaching inconsistency. The average Irish student would have twelve or thirteen different Irish teachers, each with a varying dialect.
The differences between dialects are considerable, and have led to recurrent difficulties in defining standard Irish. Even everyday phrases can show startling dialectal variation: the standard example is "How are you?":
- Ulster: ''cad é mar atá tú?'' ("what is it as you are?" Note: ''caidé'' or ''goidé'' and sometimes ''dé'' are alternative renderings of ''cad é'')
- Connacht: ''cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?'' ("what way it that you are?")
- Munster: ''conas taoi?'' or ''conas tánn tú?'' ("how are you?")
- "standard Irish": Conas a tá tú ("how are you?")
In recent times, however, contacts between speakers of different dialects have become more common, and mixed dialects have originated. Nevertheless, many dialect speakers (especially Ulster) are still zealously trying to guard their own variety against influences from other dialects. Among non-native speakers, this can be seen as a quest for authenticity. Regional accents are commonly taught to non-natives and imitated: an urban non-native speaker of Irish in
Cork City (''Cathair Chorcaí'') is very probably trying to emulate Coolea or Kerry dialect; one from
Belfast (''Béal Feirste'') tends to speak an Irish modelled on the Rosses dialect of Donegal; and Galwegian Irish-speakers, living next door to Connemara, will do their best to sound like a Connemara native.
There also exists a
Cant called
Shelta , based partly on
English and partly Irish, in use by the
Irish Traveller s.
The features most unfamiliar to English speakers of the language are the
Orthography , the
Initial Consonant Mutation s, the
Verb Subject Object word order, and the use of two different forms for "to be". However, initial mutations are found in other
Celtic Languages as well as in some
Italian and Sardinian dialects, as an independent development. They are also found in some West
African Languages .
''See main article
Irish Syntax ''
One aspect of Irish syntax that is unfamiliar to speakers of other languages is the use of the
Copula (known in Irish as ''an chopail''). The copula is used to describe what or who someone is, as opposed to how and where. This has been likened to the difference between the verbs ''ser'' and ''estar'' in
Spanish and
Portuguese , although this is only a rough approximation. The copula, which in the present tense is ''is'', is usually demonstrative:
When saying "this is", or "that is", ''seo'' and ''sin'' are used:
One can also add "that is in him/her/it", especially when using an adjective, when it is desired to emphasise the quality:
: (Literally: "It is a strong man that is in him.")
: (Literally: "It is a beautiful girl that is in her.")
This sometimes appears in
Hiberno-English , either translated literally as "that is in it", or as "so it is".
''See main articles
Irish Morphology ,
Irish Nominals , and
Irish Verbs .''
Another feature of Irish grammar that is shared with other Celtic languages is the use of prepositional pronouns (''forainmneacha réamhfhoclacha''), which are essentially conjugated prepositions. For example, the word for "at" is ''ag'', which in the first person singular becomes "at me". When used with the verb ''bí'' ("to be") ''ag'' indicates possession; this is the equivalent of the English verb "to have".
Compare with
Breton :
''See main articles
Irish Orthography and
Irish Phonology .''
The written language looks rather daunting to those unfamiliar with it. Once understood, the orthography is relatively straightforward. The
Acute Accent , or ''síneadh fada'' (´), serves to lengthen the sound of the vowels and in some cases also changes their quality. For example, in Munster Irish (Kerry), ''a'' is or and ''á'' is in "law" but in Ulster Irish (Donegal), ''á'' tends to be .
Around the time of
World War II , Séamas Daltún, in charge of (the official translations department of the Irish government), issued his own guidelines about how to standardise Irish spelling and grammar. This de facto standard was subsequently approved of by the State and called the Official Standard or '''Caighdeán Oifigiúil'''.
It simplified and standardised the orthography. Many words had silent letters removed and vowel combination brought closer to the spoken language. Where multiple versions existed in different dialects for the same word, one or more were selected.
Examples:
- ''Gaedhealg / Gaedhilg(e) / Gaedhealaing / Gaeilic / Gaelainn / Gaoidhealg / Gaolainn'' => ''Gaeilge'', "Irish language" (''Gaoluinn'' or ''Gaolainn'' is still used in books written in dialect by Munster authors, or as a facetious name for the Munster dialect)
- ''Lughbhaidh'' => ''Lú'', "Louth"
- ''biadh'' => ''bia'', "food" (The orthography ''biadh'' is still used by the speakers of those dialects that show a meaningful and audible difference between ''biadh'' - nominative case - and ''bídh'' - genitive case: "of food, food's". For example, in Munster Irish the latter ends in an audible -g sound, because final ''-idh, -igh'' regularly delenites to ''-ig'' in Munster pronunciation.)
Modern Irish has only one
Diacritic sign, the acute (á é í ó ú), known in Irish as the ''síneadh fada'' 'long mark', plural ''sínte fada''. In English, this is frequently referred to as simply the ''fada'', where the adjective is used as a noun. The dot-above diacritic, called a ''ponc séimhithe'' or ''sí buailte'' (often shortened to ''buailte''), derives from the ''punctum delens'', which was used in medieval manuscripts to indicate deletion, similar to crossing out unwanted words in handwriting today. From this usage it was used to indicate the
Lenition of ''s'' (from /s/ to /h/) and ''f'' (from /f/ to zero) in
Old Irish texts.
Lenition of ''c'', ''p'', and ''t'' was indicated by placing the letter ''h'' after the affected consonant; lenition of other sounds was left unmarked. Later both methods were extended to be indicators of lenition of any sound except ''l'' and ''n'', and two competing systems were used: lenition could be marked by a ''buailte'' or by a postposed ''h''. Eventually, use of the ''buailte'' predominated when texts were writing using Gaelic letters, while the ''h'' predominated when writing using Roman letters.
Today Gaelic letters and the ''buailte'' are rarely used except where a 'traditional' style is required, e.g. the motto on the ).
''See main article
Irish Initial Mutations ''
In Irish, there are two classes of initial mutations:
- Lenition (in Irish, ''séimhiú'' "softening") describes the change of stops into fricatives. Indicated in old orthography by a dot (called a sí buailte) written above the changed consonant, this is now shown by adding an extra -h-:
- --- ''caith!'' "throw!" - ''chaith mé'' "I threw" (this is an example of the lenition as a past-tense marker, which is caused by the use of ''do'', although this is now usually omitted)
- --- ''margadh'' "market", "market-place", "bargain" - ''Tadhg an mhargaidh'' "the man of the street" (word for word "Timothy of the market-place" (here we see the lenition marking the genitive case of a masculine noun)
- --- ''Seán'' "Seán, John" - ''a Sheáin!'' "O John!" (here we see lenition as part of what is called the vocative case - in fact, the vocative lenition is triggered by the ''a'' or vocative marker before ''Sheáin'')
- Nasalisation (in Irish, ''urú'' "eclipsis") covers the voicing of voiceless stops, as well as the true nasalisation of voiced stops.
- --- ''athair'' "father" - ''ár nAthair'' "our Father"
- --- ''tús'' "start", ''ar dtús'' "at the start"
- --- ''Gaillimh'' "Galway" - ''i nGaillimh'' "in Galway"
The date of introduction of Celtic languages to Ireland is an open question, debated by linguists and archaeologists.J.P.Mallory ''Two Perspectives on the Problem of Irish Origins'' Emania 9(1991)53, at 58: "The lexical evidence of the Irish language suggests that it was introduced into Ireland most plausibly after c.1200 BC and any attempt to set the arrival of the Irish before this date becomes increasingly difficult to sustain ... I find it difficult to imagine it as anything other than a language introduced by a population movement rather than a ''lingua franca'' or pidgin carried along trade routes ..." Regardless of this opinion, the idea remains in play, in, for example, John Waddell & Jane Conroy, "Celts and others" in ''Archaeology and Language IV: Language Change and Cultural Transformation'' (1999). Venceslas Kruta in ''Les Celtes'' (2000) suggests a date late in the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest form of the language,
Primitive Irish , is found in
Ogham inscriptions up to about the
4th Century AD. After the conversion to
Christianity ,
Old Irish begins to appear as
Gloss es in the margins of
Latin Manuscripts , beginning in the
6th Century , until it gives way in the
10th Century to Middle Irish. Modern Irish dates from about the
16th Century .
The Irish language was the most widely spoken language on the island of Ireland until the 19th century. The first
Bible in Irish was translated by William Bedell,
Church Of Ireland Bishop of
Kilmore , in the
17th Century .Though its number of speakers has been in decline since the 19th century, it is an important part of
Irish Nationalist identity.
A combination of the introduction of a primary education system (the '
National School s'), in which Irish was prohibited and only English taught by order of the
British Government , and the
Great Famine (''An Gorta Mór'') which hit a disportionately high number of Irish language speakers (who lived in the poorer areas heavily hit by famine deaths and emigration), hastened its rapid decline. Irish political leaders, such as
Daniel O'Connell (Dónall Ó Conaill), too were critical of the language, seeing it as 'backward', with English the language of the future. Contemporary reports spoke of Irish-speaking parents actively discouraging their children from speaking the language, and encouraging the use of English instead. This practice continued long after independence, as the stigma of speaking Irish remained very strong. Despite the policy of successive Irish governments to promote the language the decline in the number of native speakers within the Gaeltacht has accelerated although the number of those elsewhere in the country able to speak it (as a second language) has increased albeit not to the extent that many hoped.
Some, however, thought differently. The initial moves to save the language were championed by Irish
Protestants , such as the linguist and clergyman
William Neilson , in the end of the eighteenth century; the major push occurred with the foundation by
Douglas Hyde , the son of a Church of Ireland rector, of the
Gaelic League (known in Irish as ''Conradh na Gaeilge'') which started the
Gaelic Revival . Leading supporters of Conradh included
Pádraig Mac Piarais and
Éamon De Valera . The revival of interest in the language coincided with other cultural revivals, such as the foundation of the
Gaelic Athletic Association and the growth in the performance of plays about Ireland in English, by such luminaries as
William Butler Yeats ,
J.M. Synge ,
Sean O'Casey and
Lady Gregory , with their launch of the
Abbey Theatre .
Even though the Abbey Theatre playwrights wrote in English (and indeed some disliked Irish) the Irish language affected them, as it did all Irish English speakers. The version of English spoken in Ireland, known as
Hiberno-English bears striking similarities in some grammatical idioms with Irish. Some have speculated that even after the vast majority of Irish people stopped speaking Irish, they perhaps subsconsciously used its grammatical flair in the manner in which they spoke English. This fluency is reflected in the writings of Yeats,
George Bernard Shaw ,
Oscar Wilde and more recently in the writings of
Seamus Heaney ,
Paul Durcan ,
Dermot Bolger and many others. (It may also in part explain the appeal in Britain of Irish-born broadcasters like
Terry Wogan ,
Eamonn Andrews ,
Graham Norton ,
Desmond Lynam , etc.)
This national cultural revival of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century matched the growing Irish radicalism in Irish politics. Many of those, such as Pearse, de Valera,
W.T. Cosgrave (Liam Mac Cosguir) and
Ernest Blythe (Earnán de Blaghd), who fought to achieve Irish independence and came to govern the independent Irish state, first became politically aware through Conradh na Gaeilge, though Hyde himself resigned from its presidency in 1915 in protest at the movement's growing politicisation.
A Church of Ireland campaign to promote worship and religion in Irish was started in
1914 with the founding of ''Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise'' (the Irish Guild of the Church). The
Roman Catholic Church also replaced its liturgies in
Latin with Irish and English for their liturgies following the
Second Vatican Council in the
1960s . The hit song "
Theme From Harry's Game " by
County Donegal music group
Clannad , became the first song to appear on
Top Of The Pops with Irish lyrics in 1982.
The independent Irish state was established in 1922 (
The Irish Free State 1922-37;
Ireland (Éire) from
1937 , also known since
1949 as the
Republic Of Ireland ). Although some
Republican leaders had been committed language enthusiasts, the new state continued to use English as the language of administration, even in areas where over 80% of the population spoke Irish. The government refused to implement the 1926 recommendations of the Gaeltacht Commission, which included restoring Irish as the language of administration in such areas. As the role of the state grew, it therefore exerted tremendous pressure on Irish-speakers to speak English. This was only partly offset by measures which were supposed to support the Irish language. For instance, the state was by far the largest employer. A qualification in Irish was required to apply for state jobs. However, this did not require a high level of fluency, and few public employees were ever required to use Irish in the course of their work. On the other hand, state employees had to have perfect command of English and had to use it constantly. Because most public employees had a poor command of Irish, it was impossible to deal with them in Irish. If an Irish-speaker wanted to apply for a grant, obtain electricity, or complain about being over-taxed, they had to do it in English. As late as 1986 a Bord na Gaeilge report noted "...the administrative agencies of the state have been among the strongest forces for anglicisation in Gaeltacht areas".Advisory Planning Committee of Bord na Gaeilge, ''The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future'', p.41. Criterion, 1986.
The new state increased attempts to promote Irish through the school system. Some politicians claimed that the state would become predominantly Irish-speaking within a generation. However, it is generally agreed that this policy was clumsily implemented (and sometimes proved even to be counter productive) . From the mid-1940s onward the policy of teaching English-speaking children through Irish was abandoned. In the following decades, support for the language was progressively reduced.
Whereas the first three presidents of Ireland (
Douglas Hyde /Dubhghlas de hÍde,
Sean T. O'Kelly /Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh and
Eamon De Valera ) and the fifth (
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh ) were all so fluent in Irish that it became the working language in their official residence, later presidents struggled with any degree of fluency, its use declining to such an extent that it is ''only'' used now (if at all) in occasional speeches. Similarly, where earlier generations of Irish government leaders were highly fluent, recent prime ministers (
Albert Reynolds /Ailbhe Mag Raghnaill,
John Bruton ,
Bertie Ahern ) had little fluency, struggling to pronounce passages of their speeches in Irish to their
Ard-Fheiseanna (party conference(s), ).
It is, though, disputed to what extent such professed
Language Revival ists as de Valera genuinely tried to Gaelicise political life. Ernest Blythe did little during his time as Minister of Finance to assist Irish language projects beyond the vested interests of already established organisations. Even in the first
Dáil Éireann , few speeches were delivered ''as Gaeilge'' (in Irish), with the exception of formal proceedings. None of the recent taoisigh (plural of 'Taoiseach', meaning 'prime minister') have been fluent in Irish; however, the two most recent
Presidents ,
Mary McAleese (Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa) and
Mary Robinson (Máire Mhic Róibín) are fluent, though the latter studied the language while in office to improve her fluency. Every
President Of Ireland has all so far taken their inaugurational 'Declaration of Office' in the language, but they have the option of taking the English declaration at
The Inauguration .
Even modern parliamentary legislation, though ''supposed'' to be issued in both Irish and English, is frequently only available in English. Much of publicly displayed Irish is ungrammatical, thus irritating both language activists and enemies of the language and contributing to the public image of the revival as phony and bogus.
Many public bodies have Irish language or bilingual names, but some have downgraded the language. For example,
Eircom (formerly
Telecom Éireann ) effectively dropped Irish from its telephone directories in
1999 .
An Post , the Republic's postal service, continues to have
Place Names in the language on its postmarks, as well as recognising addresses (as does the
Royal Mail in Northern Ireland).
In an effort to address the half-committed attitude of Irish language use by the State, the
Official Languages Act was passed in 2003. This act ensures that ''every'' publication made by a governmental body must be published in both official languages, Irish and English. In addition, the office of Language Commissioner has been set up to act as an
Ombudsman with regard to equal treatment in both languages.
and Irish.]]
In 2002, at the launch of what was to be a new traffic management system for
Dublin , it was revealed that the vast majority of signs would be in English only. The justification offered was that, in making the English lettering large enough to be easily read by motorists from a distance, there was no space to include Irish. The use of the single Irish words left, 'An Lár' (meaning city centre) was criticised on the basis that no-one would know what it meant, even though it was a term used widely for decades on street signs. Even the once common method in Ireland of beginning and ending letters - beginning 'A Chara' (meaning friend) and ending 'Is Mise le Meas' - is becoming rarer.
A major factor in the decline of spoken Irish has been the movement of English-speakers into the Gaeltacht (predominantly Irish speaking areas) and the return of native Irish-speakers who have acquired English-speaking families. This has been stimulated by government grants and infrastructure projects. "only about half Gaeltacht children learn Irish in the home... this is related to the high level of in-migration and return migration which has accompanied the economic restructuring of the Gaeltacht in recent decades".''The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future'', p. xxvi. Many see this as a deliberate attempt by anti-nationalist politicians to wipe out the language. "That economic development of the kind undertaken was likely to have such consequences was readily predictable a decade ago".''The Irish Language in a Changing Society: Shaping The Future'', p. 47. In a last-ditch effort to stop the complete collapse of Irish-speaking in Connemara in Galway, planning controls have been introduced on the building of new homes in Irish speaking areas. These are supposed to ensure that the proportion of English speakers in the local population does not increase. But even this may be too little, too late, as many of those areas have a majority of English speakers, with all Irish speakers being bilingual, using English as their everyday language except among themselves.
Attempts have been made to offer some support for the language through the media, notably the launch of
Raidió Na Gaeltachta (Gaeltacht radio) and
Teilifís Na Gaeilge (Irish language television, called initially 'TnaG', now renamed
TG4 ); both have been relatively successful. TG4 has offered Irish-speaking young people a forum for youth culture ''as Gaeilge'' (in Irish) through rock and pop shows, travel shows, dating games, and even a controversial award-winning
Soap Opera in Irish called ''
Ros Na Rún '' (featuring, among other characters, an Irish-speaking gay couple and their child). Most of TG4's viewership, however, tends to come from showing
Gaelic Football ,
Hurling and
Rugby matches, and films in English.
There is also a daily Irish-language newspaper called ''
Lá '', a weekly called ''
Foinse '', and the ''
Irish Times '' and ''
Daily Ireland '' have pages in Irish, with articles appended with short lists giving the meaning of some of the words used in English.
More controversially the Official language required the use of both the Irish and English placenames in English speaking areas of the state but only allows for the use of Irish placenames on all official documents, maps and roadsigns in or referring to (what are often only nominally) Gaeltacht areas.
Opposition to these measures comes from several quarters including some people within popular tourist destinations located within the Gaeltacht (such as
Dingle/An Daingean ) who complain that tourists may not recognise the Gaelic forms of the placenames.
In 1938, the founder of the Conradh na Gaeilge, Douglas Hyde, was inaugurated as the first
President Of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inauguration 'Declaration of Office' in his native
Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect, which in effect died out with him. Over sixty years later, the majority of the Gaeltacht and Irish-speaking areas in existence as he took that oath no longer exist.
There is a concerted effort to promote the language among recent immigrants. In 2003, the
Qur'an was translated into Irish, following a collaboration between the Islamic Cultural Centre in
Dublin and
Foras Na Gaeilge .
As in the Republic, the Irish language is a
Minority Language in Northern Ireland, known in Irish as ''Tuaisceart na hÉireann''/''Tuaisceart Éireann'' or ''na sé chontae'' (the
Six Counties ).
Attitudes towards the language in Northern Ireland have traditionally reflected the political differences between its two divided communities. The language has been regarded with suspicion by
Unionists , who have associated it with the
Catholic -dominated Republic, and more recently, with the
Republican movement. Many republicans in Northern Ireland, including
Sinn Féin President
Gerry Adams , learnt Irish while in prison, a development known as the ''jailtacht''. Although the language was taught in Catholic secondary schools (especially by the
Christian Brothers ), it was not taught at all in state (
Protestant ) schools and public signs in Irish were effectively banned under laws by the
Parliament Of Northern Ireland , which stated that only
English could be used.
These laws were not repealed by the
British Government until the early 1990s. However, Irish-medium schools, known as ''
Gaelscoil eanna'', had already been founded in
Belfast and
Derry , and an Irish-language newspaper called ''Lá'' ('day') was established in Belfast.
BBC Radio Ulster began broadcasting a nightly half-hour programme in Irish in the early 1980s called ''Blas'' ('taste', 'accent'), and
BBC Northern Ireland also showed its first TV programme in the language in the early 1990s.
The ''
Ultach Trust '' was also established, with a view to broadening the appeal of the language among Protestants, although hardline
Loyalist s like
Ian Paisley continued to ridicule it as a "
Leprechaun language".
Ulster Scots , promoted by many
Loyalist s, was, in turn, ridiculed by nationalists (and even some
Unionist s) as "a
DIY language for
Orangemen " According to recent statistics, there is no significant difference between the number of Catholic and Protestant speakers of Ulster Scots in Ulster (see
Ulster Scots Language ), although those involved in promoting Ulster-Scots as a language are almost always unionist. Although Ulster-Scots is now officially recognised as a language in Northern Ireland (there are also some attempts to promote it in some border counties of the Republic) many people claim it is actually little more than a
Dialect of English
Irish received official recognition in Northern Ireland for the first time in
1998 under the
Good Friday Agreement . 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 the previous Republic-only ''Bord na Gaeilge''.
The British government has ratified the
European Charter For Regional Or Minority Languages in respect to Irish in Northern Ireland.
It has been claimed that
Belfast now represents the fastest growing centre of Irish language usage on the island - and the
Good Friday Agreement 's provisions on 'parity of esteem' have been used to give the language an official status there. In
March 2005 , the Irish language TV service
TG4 began broadcasting from the Divis transmitter near
Belfast , as a result of agreement between the
Department Of Foreign Affairs and the
Northern Ireland Office , although so far this is the only transmitter to carry it.
The number of native Irish-speakers in the
Republic Of Ireland today is a smaller fraction of what it was at independence. The
Official Languages Act of 2003 gave people the right to interact with state bodies in Irish. It is too early to assess how well this is working in practice. Other factors were outward migration of Irish speakers from the Gaeltacht and inward migration of English-speakers. The Planning and Development Act (2000) attempted to address the latter issue, but the response is almost certainly inadequate. Planning controls now require new housing in Gaeltacht areas to be allocated to English-speakers and Irish-speakers in the same ratio as the existing population of the area. This will not prevent houses allocated to Irish-speakers subsequently being sold on to English-speakers. Outward migration of Irish-speakers could be reduced if the state, which is the main employer in the
Republic Of Ireland , were to exercise its right to have certain jobs performed in Irish and relocated to the Gaeltacht. On 3rd December 2003 the
Minister For Finance announced a new Decentralisation programme, moving over 10,000 civil and public service jobs to 53 locations in 25 other counties outside Dublin. The government explicitly said this was being done to boost the economy of outlying areas. None of these jobs were used to provide employment for native Irish-speakers in the Gaeltacht.
According to data compiled by the Irish Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, only one quarter of households in Gaeltacht areas possess a fluency in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, described the Irish language policy followed by Irish governments a 'complete and absolute disaster.'
The Irish Times (
January 6 ,
2002 ), referring to his analysis, which was initially 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.'
According to the language survey, levels of fluency among families is 'very low', from 1% in
Galway suburbs to a maximum of 8% parts of west
Donegal . With such sharp decline, particularly among the young, the real danger exists that Irish will largely become extinct within two generations, possibly even one. While the language will continue to exist among English speakers who have learned fluency and are bilingual (though mainly English-speaking in their everyday lives) Gaeltachtaí embody more than just a language, but the cultural context in which it is spoken, through song, stories, social traditions, folklore and dance. The death of the Gaeltachtaí would make a break forever between Ireland's cultural past and identity, and its future. All sides, irrespective of their view on the methodology used by independent Ireland in its efforts to preserve the language, agree that such a loss would be a cultural tragedy of a monumental scale.
An interest in the Irish language is maintained throughout the
English Speaking world among the
Irish Diaspora and there are active Irish language groups in
North America n,
British and
Australia n cities.
Several computer software products have the option of an Irish-language interface. Prominent examples include
{Link without Title} .
The Irish language is a compulsory subject in government funded schools in the Republic of Ireland and has been so since the early days of the state. While many students learn Irish well through the Irish school system, and develop a healthy respect for it, many other students find it difficult or are taught it poorly by unmotivated teachers; these students' attitudes toward Irish tend to range from apathy to hostility.
All things being equal, for English-speakers, Irish is more difficult than Spanish or German. Irish syntax, morphology, and vocabulary are a good deal more different to English than many other European languages are; this makes learning it challenging for many. The Irish Government has endeavoured to address the situation by revamping the curriculum at primary school level to focus on spoken Irish. However, at secondary school level, it can easily be argued that Irish is still taught "academically". Students must write lengthy essays, debates, and stories in Irish for the
Leaving Certificate examination.
Recently the abolition of compulsory Irish has been discussed and while some Irish people favour such a move, many do not. In 2005
Enda Kenny , leader of Ireland's main opposition party,
Fine Gael , called for the language to be made an optional subject in the last two years of secondary school. This call drew widespread criticism from many quarters although some have supported his call. Mr Kenny, despite being a fluent speaker himself, stated that he believed that compulsory Irish has done the language more harm than good.
A relatively recent development is the proliferation of
Gaelscoil eanna, i.e. schools in which Irish is the medium of education. By September 2005 there were 158 gaelscoileanna at primary level and 36 at secondary level in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland together (excluding the Gaeltacht, whose schools are not considered gaelscoileanna), which amounted to approximately 31,000 students. This has grown from a total of less than 20 in the early 1970's and there are 15 more being planned at present. With the opening of Gaelscoil Liatroma in
County Leitrim in 2005 there is now at least one gaelscoil in each of the 32
Traditional Counties Of Ireland .
