Thug Rúnaí Misneach, Kerron Ó Luain, óráid uaidh ag comhdháil dár dteideal “Winning Our Futures” a d’eagraigh ICEC agus an Radical Independence Convention i nDún Éideann ar an 5ú Deireadh Fómhair. Tháinig ionadaithe as 15 náisiún atá faoi chois nó gan stát san Eoraip le chéile chun dul i mbun plé stráitéiseach faoi thodhchaí na Mór Roinne.

Móran taing, go raibh míle maith agaibh, thank you, for your invitation to speak on Ireland’s past, present, and future. Over the next few minutes, I’ll provide an overview of the key issues shaping the nation’s trajectory.

Ireland’s history is deeply intertwined with colonization, especially from the sixteenth century onwards when it became a testing ground for British imperialism. English policies aimed to suppress Irish language, culture, and political autonomy. The “plantation” policies, for instance, displaced native Irish populations, and in schools, Irish children were subjected to indoctrination, such as reciting verses that celebrated being “a happy English child.” The goal was clear: to either assimilate or eradicate Irish identity.

The British were only partially successful as various forms of resistance emerged over time—some militant, some constitutional, and others focused on cultural and linguistic preservation.

However, the struggle for independence was also only partially successful. The Irish Revolution of 1916-1923 ended with partial autonomy for 26 of the 32 counties, but partition left the North under a supremacist Protestant government. Britain maintained influence in the South by supporting conservative forces during the 1922-23 Civil War. As a result, Kevin O’Higgins, one of the leaders of the conservative wing, later claimed they were “the most conservative-minded revolutionaries that ever put through a successful revolution.”

The legacy of colonialism, and the failure to forge a truly radical path, still haunts Ireland. The division of the island has stifled democracy, rather than stimulating it, and exacerbated economic imbalances. The West, where the Irish language remains strongest, has been hit hard by emigration due to a lack of economic opportunities, while Dublin dominates much of the country’s economic activity. Meanwhile, the Irish elite, often serving the interests of global financial powers rather than the local population, have shifted their allegiances from Britain to U.S. multinational corporations.

This has led to an economy overly reliant on foreign direct investment, with dire consequences for ordinary people. Housing, healthcare, education, and the cost of living are in crisis, and this has left room for the rise of fascism. In the North, the intransigence and threats of Unionist elements hold back self-determination, progressive change and deny Irish speakers their basic language rights.

In the South, the use of Shannon Airport for the transport of arms to the Israeli Zionist state, facilitating the slaughter of Palestinians, and the increasing military influence of NATO, the EU, and the US, threatens Ireland’s long-standing policy of neutrality. This policy, rooted in an anti-colonial understanding and a rejection of empire, is at risk of being undermined

The Scottish Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean once referred to the “bitter legacy” of colonialism, noting how it endangered indigenous languages, drove emigration, and empowered “the porters of international big business.” This same colonial legacy continues to shape Ireland’s struggles today.

That said, if autonomy had not been gained in 1922, the challenges facing Ireland – particularly the social problems I alluded to – would, without doubt, be far greater, and neutrality would not even exist. We would be unwilling participants in Empire.

Looking to the future, there is reason for optimism. Demographic shifts in the North of Ireland have made the possibility of a united Ireland more realistic than ever before. Even right-wing and centrist political parties in the South have little opposition to the idea, though many underestimate the challenges ahead.

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 stipulates that a referendum on reunification can only take place if the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland believes a majority would vote in favour of it—a hurdle that will not be easily overcome.

While Ireland has come a long way from its days under colonial rule, the country still grapples with the effects of that inheritance. Nevertheless, with increasing momentum towards reunification and an increasingly left-leaning youth, not as shackled by a post-colonial syndrome as previous generations, the country stands at a pivotal moment in its history.

James Connolly, born in Scotland to Irish parents in Cowgate in this city, spoke about a rejection of centralised and imperial states when he referred to ‘a free federation of free peoples’. Ireland, like the other nations gathered here today, has an opportunity to forge such a ‘free federation’ in the coming years. In fact, we must – the alternatives will be catastrophic. So we must struggle for self-determination, democracy, for the republic and for true decolonisation, free from external influence and Empire. Bíodh Misneach againn. Beir Bua.

Bhailigh Gaeil Bhleá Cliath, agus cuid de mhuintir an Chadhnaigh, le chéile chun ómós a thabhairt d’fhathach na nGael. Ba é seo an cheathrú huair as a chéile a reáchtáil Misneach BÁC an comóradh.

Thug Domhnall Mac Concharraige an príomh-oráid, a dhírigh sé ar staid na teanga i láthair na huaire. Leagadh roinnt lilí ag uaigh an Chadhnaigh sular canadh Amhrán na bhFiann.

Breathnaigh ar an óráid anseo:

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Ó Cadhain Commemoration 2024

Dublin Irish speakers, and some of Ó Cadhain’s relatives, gathered to pay tribute to this giant of the Gaelic world. This is the fourth year that Misneach BÁC have organised the commemoration.

Domhnall Mac Concharraige gave the main oration, which focussed on the current state of the language. Some lilies were then laid at Ó Cadhain’s grave, before Amhrán na bhFiann was sung.

Chuaigh gníomhaithe Misneach BÁC i mbun gnímh díchoilínithe inniu chun comharthaí sráide impiriúlacha agus caipitleacha gan mhaith a chlúdach agus cinn Gaelacha a chuir ina n-áit.

Breis agus 100 bliain i ndiaidh bunú an stáit, tá rianta an impiriúlachais le sonrú go fóill i gcuid dár logainmneacha. Tá ómós tugtha go fóill do lárionad cumhachta Shasana ar nós Westminster agus do chlanna ríoga agus a gcuid giollaí – leithéidí Tudor, Mountjoy agus Windsor – ar shráideanna agus cearnóga na hardchathrach.

Parlaimint agus clanna iad seo a chuaigh i mbun, nó a thug caoinchead, don scrios a rinneadh ar na Gaeil, ar ár dteanga agus ar an gcultúr Gaelach.

Is deacair ar shochaí bogadh chun cinn go síceolaíoch nuair atá rianta siombalacha an impiriúlachais mar seo le feiceáil inár dtírdhreach agus thart orainn go fóill.

Anuas air sin, tá fabht an chaipitleachais, a scriosann logainmneacha ársa, le sonrú sna hainmneacha gan chiall a chuirtear ar eastáit agus bloic árasáin nua.

Seachas ainmneacha a bhfuil nasc acu lenár n-oidhreacht, molann forbróirí ainmneacha gan nasc ar bith leis an gceantar nó na logainmneacha Gaelacha, agus gan samhlaíocht ar bith, ar nós ‘Parklands’ ‘Falcon’s View’ agus ‘The Coast’. Meastar go bhfuil ‘luach’ ag baint le hainmneacha cosúil leis seo agus áitreabh á ndíol sa mhargadh tithíochta.

Is léir go bhfuil ag teip ar choistí comhairleacha ainmniúcháin ag leibhéal na gcomhairlí contae smacht a choinneáil ar an bpróiseas seo. Mar sin, is fúinne atá sé aird a tharraingt ar na laigeachtaí seo.

Tá borradh faoi na healaíona Gaeilge i láthair na huaire, agus léiríonn suirbhé i ndiaidh suirbhé an tobar dea-thola don Ghaeilge i measc an phobail. Ach níl an stát ag gníomhú dá réir sin, bíodh sin i dtaobh comharthaí sráide, nó i dtaobh rudaí níos práinní ar nós líon na gcainteoirí laethúla sa Ghaeltacht nó an ghéarchéim sa chóras oideachais agus earnáil gaelscolaíochta.

An phríomhchúis leis na heaspaí seo, ná easpa spéise an rialtais in aon phróiseas díchoilínithe. Cé gur athraíodh roinnt logainmneacha san fhichiú haois, is beag cinn a athraíodh le déanaí.

Tugann muid suntas do na hathruithe a rinneadh le blianta beaga anuas sa Bhreatain Bheag, áit ar athraíodh na ‘Brecon Beacons’ go Bannau Brycheiniog agus ‘Snowdon’ go ‘Yr Wyddfa’.

Fáiltíonn muid roimh ainm na páirce náisiúnta nua i gCorca Dhuibhne, Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara. Ach cé go bhfuil Brainse agus Coiste Logainmneacha ar an bhfód chun comhairle a thabhairt faoi na teideal cearta ar logainmneacha i nGaeilge, tá sé thar am tús áite a thabhairt do logainmneacha Gaelacha agus fáil réidh leis na lipéid impiriúlacha agus caipitleacha gan chiall, bíodh sin thíos faoin tuath nó ar shráideanna na bailte agus na cathracha.

Ba chóir don stát Aonad Díchoilínithe a bhunú chuige sin – aonad a thabharfadh aghaidh ní hamháin ar Ghaelú na logainmneacha ar bhealach céimiúil ach a dhíríodh ar bhearta díchoilínithe níos práinní fiú, amhail tógáil lonnaíochtaí lán-Ghaeilge.

Ag obair as lámha na Roinne Tithíochta, agus na hÚdaráis Áitiúla, d’fhéadfadh a leithéid d’Aonad Díchoilínithe suímh feiliúnacha do lonnaíochtaí lán-Ghaeilge a aithint agus na pobail a mbeadh le cónaí iontu a thabhairt le chéile.

Ach, mar is eol dúinn, ní spéis leis an stát nuachoilíneach atá ag bánú ceantair Gaeltachta, ag maolú fás na Gaelscolaíochta, agus atá breá sásta le ceannasaíocht an Bhéarla inár dtírdhreach, beart dá leithéid a chuir i gcríoch.

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Imperialist/Capitalist Street Signs Covered by Misneach

Misneach Dublin activists have undertaken a decolonial action today, covering imperial and capitalist street signs and replacing them with Irish ones.

Over 100 years since the foundation of the state, the rot of imperialism is still evident in our placenames. Deference is still paid to the centre of English Power such as Westminster and to the royal family and their servants – the likes of Tudor, Mountjoy, and Windsor – on the city’s streets and squares.

This parliament and these families undertook, or facilitated, the destruction of the Irish, our language and Gaelic culture.

It is difficult for a society to move forward psychologically when there’s evidence of imperialist symbolism still visible in our landscapes and all around us.

Moreover, the poison of capitalism, which destroys ancient placenames, can be seen in the meaningless names that are applied to new estates and apartment blocks.

Instead of names that have a link with our heritage, developers suggest names that have no connection to the area or to Gaelic placenames, without any imagination such as ‘Parklands’, ‘Falcon’s View’ and ‘The Coast’. It’s assumed that there is “value” in these names when property is being sold in the housing market.

It’s obvious that advisory committees at the level of the county councils have lost control of this process. Therefore, it’s up to us to address these weaknesses.

Irish Language arts are currently thriving and surveys consistently show a huge amount of support for the Irish language. However, the State is not acting in line with this, whether that’s in terms of street signage, or more pressing issues like the number of remaining native speakers in the Gaeltacht or the crisis in the education system and the gaelscoil sector.

The main reason for these deficiencies is the lack of interest by the State in any decolonial process. Although some placenames were changed in the 20th century, few have been changed since then.

We note the changes in recent years made in Wales, where na ‘Brecon Beacons’ was changed to Bannau Brycheiniog and ‘Snowdon’ to ‘Yr Wyddfa’.

We welcome the name of the new national park in Corca Dhuibhne being called Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara. But although there a Branch and Committee for Placenames exists to advise on the correct titles for placenames in Irish, it is high time priority was given to Irish-language placenames and the imperial and meaningless capitalist names were replaced, whether that be in rural areas or on the streets of our towns and cities.

The state should establish a Decolonial Unit to conducht this work – a unit which would set about not only Gaelicizing our placenames in a graduated fashion but would also undertake more pressing decolonial actions, such as developing communities of Irish-speakers by constructing housing.

Working hand in hand with the Housing Department, and with local authorities, such a Decolonial Unit could locate suitable sites for housing for Irish-speakers and bring together those who would live in them.

But, as we know, the neo-colonial state which is depopulating Gaeltacht areas, hampering the growth of the Gaelscoil sector, and is more than happy to continue with the dominance of English in our landscape, has little interest in carrying out such actions. Therefore, it is up to the Irish-speaking public to highlight these deficiencies.

Tá tóir ar an eagrán is déanaí de Mionlach, Eagrán #14. Tá an t-eagrán ar fáil sna háiteachaí seo a leanas ar €3 nó £2 an chóip.

Nó is féidir cinn a cheannach anseo ar an suíomh i gcónaí.

Má tá moltaí ag Gaeil faoi shiopaí nó áiteachaí a mbeadh sásta glacadh le cóipeanna den iris, is féidir scéal a chuir chuig eolas@misneachabu.ie

Every so often ‘journalists’ in the Twenty-Six Counties deign to allow discourse on the Irish language in the English-language media. The release of census results every five years usually stirs up some discussion on the state of the language in modern Ireland, before the question is then forgotten about for another few years.

More often than not, the purpose of discussing the Irish language is motivated, not by a need to find ways in which to promote our native tongue, but instead, and as with many other topics aired by the media, the purpose is to stir controversy.

This motivation, arising from a colonial loathing of the Irish language, is done consciously and with purpose. We do not need to stray too far into the past to see examples of this, we only have to look to last week with the repeated attacks by Newstalk presenters against the language and the incoherent ramblings of journalist Brenda Power on RTÉ’s Upfront programme.

On the show, Power claimed that the Irish language was ‘dead’, despite the clear evidence of its continued survival both as a community language and in various spheres of Irish society, from the education system straight through to the media.

On other occasions this process of denigration operates at a subconscious level and is couched in terms of ‘humour’. The bizarre ‘bit’ on last Saturday’s Late Late Show in which US presenter Conan O’Brien was coaxed into mocking the Irish-language names of people in the audience was an illustration of this self-loathing colonial cringe. Evidently, the Anglocentric mind finds great amusement in different languages having different phonetic systems.

In the Six Counties, this colonial opposition manifests in unionist hostility to every aspect of the Irish language, with the current point of focus of this being fervent unionist opposition to the erection of bilingual signage in Belfast and in other urban centres.

Although there is a spectrum of usage, the Irish language essentially operates on two interlinked levels in Ireland – within the education system and outside the education system.

Many sociolinguists maintain that languages which are robust will see high levels of intergenerational transmission and community usage. This mainly occurs in the Gaeltachtaí, although these areas are under serious threat due to their historic marginalisation, lack of infrastructure, and lack of democracy in how they are run.

Despite the overall importance of the Gaeltachtaí as a fount of the language for speakers elsewhere, both linguistically and in terms of Gaeltacht natives involved in Irish-language media and education, little time is given in the English-language media to discussing the maintenance of these areas.

The impact of the housing crisis, the blight of holiday homes, the lack of broadband, poor infrastructure such as roads and quays, an over-reliance on the fickle tourist industry to sustain the economy, and the progress of the language planning process are all issues that should be up for discussion when talking about the future of the Gaeltachtaí.

However, one topic that the English-language media does regularly discuss is the matter of ‘compulsory Irish’ within the education system. Undue focus on this aspect of the discussion around the Irish language pleases the old guard anti-Gaeilge types resentful at having been ’forced’ to read Peig in the 1970s.

Such discussions rarely deal in facts and almost always bring myths around the language to the fore. One contributor on RTÉ’s Upfront programme that discussed ‘compulsory Irish’ bizarrely stated that he was a huge fan of history, yet appeared almost enthusiastic to see the death of the Irish language.

Gladly, as illustrated by numerous surveys over the years, such viewpoints are in the minority and most people are in favour of continued state support for the Irish language in the education system.Play

The Department of Education is to blame for much of the ire that is directed at the teaching of Irish within the education system in the Twenty-Six Counties.

Since the Twenty-Six County economy began to shift towards a more globalised system in the 1960s, the Department has consistently eroded the status of the Irish language within English-medium schools.

The updated curriculum recently published by the Department removed a further half an hour of Irish instruction from the time allocated to subjects for English-medium schools. There is much talk of reforming ‘teaching methods’ for Irish, but the amount of time required to acquire the language is key, and this has been constantly eroded over the last number of decades by the Department.

One commentator recently noted that the Department is seeking to “kill the Irish language by stealth” within the education system. The lax derogations system recently introduced for students who do not wish to take Irish at Leaving Certificate level confirms this.

Tens of thousands of students are now opting out of learning Irish on spurious grounds, despite the Department of Education being warned that this would happen.

Moreover, the Department and others who support this derogations system and who argue against Irish being a core subject, use spurious arguments citing ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘inclusivity’ to state that foreign born students be allowed to opt out of learning Irish. This is in fact a racist policy, the real essence of which is the belief that people who arrive from overseas are not be capable of learning Irish, or have no interest in integrating into Irish society through acquiring Irish.

The same Department has also consistently stood in the way of the founding of gaelscoileanna. Between 25% to 50% of parents in the Twenty-Six Counties would send their children to a gaelscoil or gaelcholáiste if given the opportunity, yet 102 years after the founding of the state only 8% have this opportunity.

Removing Irish as a core subject in the wider-education system will only erode the Irish language further, it will not “allow those who are serious about it, to study it” as some may claim. It will only remove the option for the many who want to study.

‘Compulsory Irish’ provides a decent foundation on which to expand the teaching of Irish.

More resources need to be put into the teaching of Irish in English-medium schools, with the progressive phasing in of the teaching of some subjects through Irish. In combination with this, a critical mass of gaelscoileanna should be built up to provide a real foothold of competency in the language for hundreds of thousands of people across the state.

More immediately, and away from the focus on ‘compulsory Irish’, those Gaeltachtaí which are under severe pressure need to receive increased investment from the state in the form of Universal Public Housing and the provision of local services, two measures which will sustain the next generation of Irish speakers who use the language as a communal one.

The re-establishment of Irish as an everyday living language can only work if it is led by a community driven movement, adequately resourced by state funding that is ring-fenced and secure.

Reáchtáil Misneach, i bpáirt le Conradh na Gaeilge Inse Chóir, comóradh ar Mháirtín Ó Cadhain le déanaí.

De bharr na géarleanúna atá á bhfualaingt ag muintir na Palaistíne faoi láthair, cinneadh ócáid dlúthpháirtíochta a dhéanamh dó. Is féidir ráiteas ó bhean Ghiúdach a bhí i láthair a léamh thíos agus éisteach le hóráid chumhachtach an Dr Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh san fhíseán chomh maith:

Agus mé in éineacht le comrádaithe eile chun ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar fhear a chaith a shaol ar fad a mhuintir a shaoradh agus a chultúr a shábháil ó choilíneachas bhí mé ag smaoineamh, mar Ghiúdach Frith-Shíónach, ar mhuintir na Palaistíne. Conas nach bhféadfainn a bheith ag smaoineamh orthu?

Ar feadh na mblianta bhí muintir na Palaistíne curtha faoi chos in ainm an Ghiúdachais.

Ach ní Giúdachas é seo. Ó thús an tSíónachais bhí Giúdaigh i gcónaí ag labhairt amach faoi. Go príomha, ba Ghiúdaigh de chuid an luchta oibre a sheas an fód ina coinne.

Giúdaigh iad seo a bhí i gcampaí le haghaidh daoine easáitithe tar éis an Dara Cogadh Domhanda agus thug Giúdaigh Shíónacha drochíde dóibh as a bheith ag labhairt amach.

Dúradh gur Giúdaigh le féinfhuath a bhí iontu. Cuireadh na Giúdaigh seo ar liosta dubh nó rinneadh imeallú orthu sna pobail Ghiúdacha mar nach nglacfaimis leis an gcinedhíothú, impiriúlachas lonnaitheora, nó coilíneachas a bhí á dhéanamh ar ár son, mar dhea.

Is fuath le Síónaigh teangacha an diaspóra a mbíonn á labhairt againn agus rinne siad tréaniarracht iad a chur faoi chois.

Chuige seo, chruthaigh siad an Eabhrais shaolta. Dá réir sin, tá dáimh agus comhbhá agam do Mháirtín Uí Chadhain. Thuig seisean, mar a thuigeann Giúdaigh atá inár gcónaí sa diaspóra, tábhacht na dteangacha agus an chultúir.

Tá seanfhocal againn sa Ghiúdais, “Mir Veln Zey Iberleben”, “We Shall Outlive Them”.

Beimid fós anseo nuair atá deireadh tagtha leis an Síónachas, mairfidh muid tríd an uafás seo, mairfidh muid tríd an gcoilíneachas seo. Beidh Éire agus an Phalaistín saor!”

I ndiaidh na comórtha bhí seisiún breá ceoil traidisiúnta i Halla Chraobh Inse Chóir de Chonradh na Gaeilge a mhair go hoíche.

Alt a scríobh Rúnaí Misneach, Kerron Ó Luain, do ICEC, eagraíocht a ghníomhaíonn ar son cearta na náisiúin bheaga gan stáit san Eoraip agus atá mar fhóram do ghluaiseachtaí sóisialta. Pléann an t-alt na constaicí atá ag feidhmiú i gcoinne na teanga; cúrsaí tithíochta san áireamh. Scríobhadh an t-alt roimh figiúirí daonáireamh 2022 a bheith foilsithe – figiúirí a léirigh tuilleadh den mheath leanúnach ar líon na gcainteoirí laethúla.

Irish, or Gaeilge, is a Goidelic language which derived from Insular Celtic. It is closely related to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. Speakers of these three languages are sometimes mutually intelligible. Beyond a shared linguistic heritage, all three languages, like that of their related Celtic cousins Welsh and Cornish, are greatly impacted by British imperialism.

Irish is unique among the Celtic languages, and indeed it is an outlier in terms of minority languages in Europe. Part of the territory within which is it is spoken is politically independent. This political self-determination was fought for by armed means during the years 1919-21. The 1916 Rising, which preceded those years was, in large part, a response to the demise of the Irish language over the course of the nineteenth century.

The language declined, in particular, following the triumph of British capitalism in erasing 2 million people from Ireland during the years of the Great Famine of 1845-52. The ideology of the leaders of the 1916 Rising crystallised in the revival organisation Conradh na Gaeilge [The Gaelic League], founded in 1893, in opposition to this decline and to continued British rule.

In the, mostly southern, Twenty-Six Counties of Ireland the language has official status and various legal protections. In the years after independence was gained in 1922, Irish was institutionalised within the structures of the state and education system.

However, the revival ran out of steam during the mid-twentieth century as it revolved primarily around the middle class – teachers, civil servants and priests. It did nothing to alleviate the endemic problems of mass emigration and poverty among a small farming and labouring class in the areas where the language was strongest, in the West.

The opening up of the economy to globalisation in the 1960s saw a further retrenchment of Irish within the state.

The latest census figures from 2016 show that 1,761,420, or 39.8% of the population, claim some knowledge of Irish.

This figure is deceptive, however, and many who say they can speak Irish do so as they view the language as an ethnic symbol, rather than something practical that might be incorporated into daily life. Around 74,000, or 2% of the population speak the language on a daily basis.

The first census taken by the newly independent state in 1926 revealed that there were 543,511 Irish speakers – people who actually spoke the language regularly. This represented 18.3% of the population at the time. Therefore, in the 101 years since a form of independence was achieved in 1922 the state has presided over a 16% drop in native Irish speakers.

A salutary caution, surely, to anyone in minority language communities who might view political independence as a simple panacea to the pressures their languages face.

In the Six Counties of the North, Irish speakers have had to contend not only with the hegemony of the English language but also with the continued hostility and intransigence of local British Unionists. The Partition of Ireland by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 severed the Irish nation in two. It left nationalists and Irish speakers in the Six Counties at the mercy of a hostile supremacist regime.

Unionists viewed Irish as a foreign language and, furthermore, as an existential threat to the state they controlled. A series of acts were introduced throughout the twentieth century which marginalised the language in the education system and the public sphere.

Yet, out of a total of around 1.9 million people in the Six County state 12.4% of the population said they had some knowledge of Irish in the recent census taken in 2021.

This represented a rise from 10.65% in 2011 and is the result of a decades long revival that emerged in earnest in the 1970s. Most positively, the number of people who said Irish was their main language rose from 4,164 in 2011 to 5,969 in 2021.

Like any minority language – especially one that exists in two different jurisdictions and political contexts – there are different sites of struggle and points of focus. In the North, in recent years, the objective has been the winning of fundamental language rights, an Irish Language Act, which was denied for many years despite being promised in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the 25th anniversary of which is this year.

The Acht Anois [Act Now] campaign driven by An Dream Dearg [The Red Group] has achieved its initial objective. The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill passed the initial stages of parliament in Westminster last year.

This was only achieved following a protracted grassroots struggle which culminated in 20,000 people marching through Belfast in May 2022.

Irish speakers in the southern Twenty-Six Counties require a similar movement. However, it is, perhaps, more difficult to coalesce around a campaign that has numerous demands, and is aimed at a “benevolent” government, than it is around one clear objective demanded from hostile political actors.

There is also a different class basis to the Irish language movement in each jurisdiction which informs its radicalism.

Educational matters are a bone of contention among Irish speakers in the south currently. The Department of Education is undermining the status of the language within the education system. Its new curriculum has reduced the number of hours a child in primary school will spend learning Irish.

It continues to operate a system which allows secondary school students derogations from studying the language on the most spurious of grounds. Most egregiously, perhaps, is that the Department has curtailed the once vibrant gaelscoil [Irish-medium school] movement by making it impossible for parents to found schools voluntarily at grassroots level.

Gladly, Irish-medium education and Irish-language organisations are mobilising a campaign in response to these injustices. How successful it is remains to be seen.

Elsewhere, within the state system the Oireachtas [houses of parliament] recently passed a revised language bill which obliges state bodies to set aside at least 20% of jobs for those proficient in Irish by 2030.

However, to borrow from the Irish revolutionary and Irish-language revivalist Pádraig Pearse, Irish in the school and state system can be lost and then won again. Indeed, ith as ebbed and flowed within that system in the past.

But when Irish is gone from the remaining communal strongholds, the Gaeltacht [Irish speaking region] it is gone forever and will not be recovered. The austerity years, enabled by Irish capitalism and overseen by ECB and IMF technocrats, dealt a hammer blow to these regions.

A sharp decline in native speakers was recorded between 2011 and 2016. The 2021 census, delayed due to Covid, but which will be published this year, is expected to show a continued decline.

In these areas, moreso than elsewhere, the language question is a material question. The fundamental necessities of living in the modern world – housing, healthcare, employment, transport and communication infrastructure – are neglected by the state.

The most crucial of these to language communities, perhaps, is housing. Here the state has utterly failed. The housing crisis which is driving emigration and misery everywhere in the country is impacting the Gaeltacht too. Unaffordable homes, unregulated holiday homes, and planning laws pitted against rural communities all combine to force the youth of these areas overseas to countries in the Anglosphere.

Housing is the base on which language communities are built. Whether they be daily communal speakers or those who use the language in networks less often, without housing there is no connection or certainty. When a person is constantly transient or worried about whether there will be a roof over their head due to an eviction threat the last thing that will enter their mind is how they can learn a new language or contribute to a local language community.

Indeed, one of the reasons for the abovementioned slowing of the gaelscoil movement, is the absence of newly formed housing estates – these being the communities that spurred the movement in the 1970s. Though the state funds a language planning process for the Gaeltacht areas and for networks of Irish speakers in urban areas, the Language Planning Officers are not granted any real powers around planning housing allocation or infrastructural projects.

Without security of housing, without a social fabric, it is difficult for progressive grassroots projects around language, education, the environment, or anything else, to gain a solid foothold.

Irish language activists have noted that the issue of housing is a burning one for Welsh and Scottish Gaelic speakers too.

All across the Celtic nations the “will of the market” (i.e. capitalism) is driving our minority languages further towards the brink of extinction. As Irish-language and minority-language activists our primary task, at this juncture, must to be to divest the housing system from the market and place it into public hands.

Dá mba fhear gealltóireachta mé, bheadh pingin deas déanta agam dá mbeadh geall curtha agam go mbeadh titim i líon na gcainteoirí laethúla Gaeilge sa daonáireamh is déanaí, agus gurbh amhlaidh a bheadh an scéal do chainteoirí sa nGaeltacht.

Agus dá gcuirfí ceist ar dhaoine eile le fios a ngraithe sular eisíodh na torthaí is déanaí, bheadh an tuar céanna déanta ag go leor acu, déarfainn. Dea-scéal é gan dabht an t-ardú ar líon na ndaoine a deir go bhfuil Gaeilge de chineál éigean acu sna 26 Contae, ach mar sin féin tá tuiscint choitianta ann nach bhfuil na polasaithe reatha sách láidir leis an nGaeilge a chosaint sa nGaeltacht, mar a tuairiscíodh ar an suíomh seo go minic.

Déantar dearmad go rómhinic sa dioscúrsa ar dhán na teanga, áfach, ar an nasc idir staid na Gaeilge agus forbairtí eacnamaíochta agus polaitiúla nach mbaineann le cúrsaí teanga per se.

Mar a mhínigh mé i leabhar a tháinig amach le déanaí faoi pholasaí Gaeilge an stáit ó 2008, tá nasc díreach idir an titim thubaisteach a bhí le feiceáil i líon na gcainteoirí laethúla taobh amuigh den chóras oideachas in 2016 agus na ciorruithe ollmhóra a rinneadh ar chaiteachas poiblí tar éis 2008.

Faoi 2016 bhí dochar na déine le haireachtáil go fairsing – gearradh buiséad Údarás na Gaeltachta agus go leor grúpaí eile go cnámh sa tréimhse sin.

Anois i bhfigiúirí 2022 feiceann muid titim eile ar líon na gcainteoirí laethúla Gaeilge taobh amuigh den chóras oideachais, bíodh is nach bhfuil sé chomh dona is a bhí in 2016. Agus muid ag míniú an mhaolaithe sa ráta meatha sin, creidim go bhfuil sé riachtanach breathnú ar an méadú a tháinig ar bhuiséad grúpaí cosúil leis an Údarás, bíodh is go bhfuil a mbuiséad siúd fós breis is 43% faoi bhun an mhéid a bhí acu in 2008. Ní tús agus deireadh na pleanála teanga é an t-airgead, ach gan é is deacra chuile shórt, gan dabht.

Mar a scríobh mé ar Tuairisc roimhe seo, tá dlúthbhaint ag an treocht ghinearálta chun meatha sa nGaeltacht le nádúr an stáit nualiobrálaigh atá againn sna 26 Contae (agus ó thuaidh – ach sin ábhar d’alt eile).

Tugtar an “nualiobrálachas” ar an gcineál caipitleachais atá i réim go hidirnáisiúnta ó bhí na 1970idí ann, agus a tháinig i dtreis in Éirinn le linn an Tíogair Cheiltigh. De réir na teoirice seo, níor chóir don stát a ladar a chur isteach sa margadh ach amháin le tacú le lucht caipitil (rátaí cánach an-ísle a ghearradh ar na comhlachtaí is mó ar domhan, mar shampla), agus níor chóir infheistíocht shuntasach a dhéanamh i bpolasaí poiblí – polasaí teanga san áireamh.

De bharr na hidé-eolaíochta seo atá an ghéarchéim tithíochta, droch-chórais iompair agus sláinte againn, agus géarchéim reatha na Gaeltachta chomh maith.

Tá daoine a déarfadh go bhfuil iarracht shuntasach ar son na teanga ar siúl le próiseas na pleanála teanga. Scríobh mé féin péire de na pleananna sin, agus tá ardmheas agam ar na daoine atá ag obair ar chur i bhfeidhm an phróisis.

Ach níl meas agam ar an bpróiseas é féin – atá róchúng agus lag chun athrú mór a dhéanamh. Ní cheadaítear caint faoi phleanáil tithíochta, fostaíochta nó bonneagair sna pleananna seo, cé gur iad sin na rudaí is mó a luann muintir na Gaeltachta agus iad ag caint ar thodhchaí a bpobal.

Ná déanaimis dearmad choíche gur shiúil páirtithe an fhreasúra amach ón Dáil mar agóid toisc nár ghlac an stát le haon cheann de 150 moladh a rinneadh le linn an phlé ar Acht na Gaeltachta 2012, a chruthaigh an próiseas pleanála teanga.

I gcomparáid leis an méid a theastaíonn, tá na hacmhainní atá ann don phróiseas suarach, agus fiú iad sin sciobtha ó chiste choiriú na mbóithre Gaeltachta. Tarraingt siar an stáit ó fhreagracht i leith na Gaeltachta – díreach mar atá déanta i gcúrsaí tithíochta agus eile – atá in Acht na Gaeltachta, ar shampla iontach é den pholasaí poiblí nualiobrálach.

Tá freagracht gan chumhacht tugtha do phobail bheaga imeallacha atá go minic ar an ngannchuid, fhad is a fhaigheann corparáidí agus creach-chistí cumhacht gan fhreagracht.

Go deimhin, agus géarchéim tithíochta agus costais maireachtála ann, cé is moite de mhionlach beag de dhíograiseoirí, tá fadhbanna níos mó ag formhór na nÉireannach ná a bheith ag smaointiú ar sheachadadh na Gaeilge ó ghlúin go glúin. “You cannot teach a starving man Gaelic,” a dúirt Séamus Ó Conghaile in 1898 – tuairim a thagann le go leor den taighde is déanaí san eolaíocht pholaitiúil faoi idé-eolaíochtaí.

Mar a bheas a fhios ag go leor de léitheoirí Tuairisc, tá polasaí teanga i bhfad níos láidre sa mBreatain Bheag, áit a bhfuil cónaí orm féin. Ach fiú anseo, bhí laghdú i líon na gcainteoirí Breatnaise le sonrú sna torthaí daonáirimh a foilsíodh i mí na Nollag. Dar le Cymeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, an grúpa a thiomáin an dul chun cinn i gcearta Breatnaise ó bhí na 1960idí ann, nár chóir go mbeadh ionadh ar bith ar dhaoine faoin titim sin ach oiread. Bíodh is go bhfuil 23% de scoileanna na tíre ag múineadh trí Bhreatnais agus go bhfuil clár cúrsaí eiseamláireacha ann d’fhoghlaimeoirí fásta, fhad is atá an stát ag dúnadh séirbhísí riachtanacha i bpobail Bhreatnaise agus ag déanamh neamhaird ar fhadhbanna soch-eacnamaíochta eile, níl seans go mbainfear amach an sprioc de mhilliún cainteoir faoi 2050. Nuair atá fiú líon na gcainteoirí Breatnaise ag titim, ní hionadh é go mbeadh fadhbanna móra againn in Éirinn.

Tá ábhar díomá go leor sna figiúirí nua daonáirimh, gan dabht. Ach tá ábhar dóchais ar fáil dúinn chomh maith – ní hamháin sa mhéadú a tháinig ar líon na gcainteoirí i gCiarraí agus Port Láirge, ach i samplaí ó áiteachaí cosúil le Tír na mBascach, áit a bhfuil infheistíocht ollmhór tar éis cur go mór le láidreacht na teanga. Is fiú dúinn cuimhniú freisin gur féidir le polasaí timpeallachta agus teanga tacú lena chéile, rud atá níos riachtanaí anois ná riamh.

Cé nach raibh sé go hiomlán rathúil, chaith lucht an choilíneachais acmhainní ollmhóra i gcaitheamh na gcéadta bliain ar fheachtas brúidiúil le teanga na coitiantachta in Éirinn a athrú ó Ghaeilge go Béarla. Tógfaidh sé iarracht chomh mór céanna inniu le teanga dhúchais na tíre a chur chun cinn. Ach leis seo a dhéanamh caithfear athrú bunúsach a bheith sa gcaoi a ndéanann an stát polasaí poiblí – cur chuige a rachadh in éadan na treochta nualiobrálaí atá i réim ar fud an domhain le blianta fada anuas. Fúinne uilig ar chás linn an Ghaeilge atá sé le cinntiú go dtarlaíonn an t-athrú radacach seo.

• Léachtóir i Roinn na Breatnaise agus an Léinn Cheiltigh in Ollscoil Aberystwyth é an Dr Ben Ó Ceallaigh, Foilsíodh a leabhar Neoliberalism and Language Shift: Lessons from the Republic of Ireland Post-2008, faoi chlúdach bog le déanaí. Tá sé sásta an PDF a roinnt le duine ar bith atá á iarraidh. Foilsíodh an t-alt thuas ar Tuairisc.ie ar dtús ar an 1ú Meitheamh 2023

Tá taighde de chuid Kerron Ó Luain, ball Misneach, ar stair na gaelscolaíochta le fáil anseo thíos. Scéal dóchais atá i bhfás na gaelscolaíochta, cé go bhfuil neart dúshláin go fóill roimh an earnáil.

Tá súil againn go léireoidh an léarscáil cuid de na bearnaí atá le líonadh go fóill agus gur féidir misneach agus ceachtannaí a bhaint as an méid atá déanta chun tabhairt faoin ngad is gaire don scornach do lucht labhartha na Gaeilge sa lá atá inniu ann – an éigeandáil teangeolaíochta sa Ghaeltacht atá á dtreisiú ag an ngéarchéim tithíochta.

Bhí an ghluaiseacht in adharca le córais gheilleagair agus pholaitiúla a rinne beag is fiú di ó tháinig sí in inmhe, ach tríd an streachailt, a bhí radacach nuair ba ghá, d’éirigh leis an ngluaiseacht brú ar ais i gcoinne na bhfórsaí úd.

Tá “Léarscáil scéala” de chuid ArcGIS atá le fáil ANSEO a thabharfaidh comhthéacs don úsáideoir agus iad ag baint leasa as an léarscáil idirghníomhach atá le fáil ANSEO. Tá feidhmiúlacht níos fearr don léarscáil ar ríomhairí ná mar atá ar ghutháin.

Tá 53 agallamh béil le fáil sa léarscáil idirghníomhach chomh maith trí chliceáil ar na pointí daite de na scoileanna atá beagáinín níos mó agus ansin ar “Eolas”. Tá dhá agallamh ann do roinnt de na scoileanna. Sna cásanna sin beidh an dara hagallamh le fáil sa chur síos faoi bhun an fhíseáin.

Is féidir teacht ar na hagallaimh uilig a mbaineann le Gaelscoileanna/Gaeloideachas trí chliceáil ar an bpointe ina bhfuil an oifig lonnaithe i Marino i mBaile Átha Cliath. Nó, mar rogha eile, is féidir teacht ar an iomlán ar YouTube ANSEO

Seo thíos litir a scríobh ball de chuid Misneach, Ben Ó Ceallaigh, a foilsíodh i nuachtán ar an Oileán Mhanann. Cé go mbaineann an t-ábhar le heachtra ar leith ar an oileán, tá lón machnaimh sa litir do gach éinne atá ag plé le cúrsaí frith-faisisteacha sa Ghaeltacht, sna tíortha Ceilteacha agus níos faide i gcéin.

The recent publicity given by The Isle of Man Examiner to a dangerous fascist group which is actively trying to recruit on the island, including reproducing their leaflets in full and distributing them on social media, shows a blatant disregard for the welfare of those targeted by fascists and a complete lack of understanding of how these ideas take root. Indeed, the front page of the paper was described by one of the leaders of the group as “amazing publicity” in a recent social media post.

While most readers will recognise fascist ideas for the bile that they are, it only takes a small percentage to be persuaded for people’s lives to be at very real risk. Famously, in the week after the leader of the fascist British National Party was disgraced on Question Time in 2009, 3,000 people applied to join the party – a tiny percentage of the eight million who watched, but a huge increase in absolute numbers for a fringe neo-nazi group. This is the risk of publicising ideas that present an existential threat to all that is decent in society. Across the world, laws proscribe hate speech, incitement to violence and other unacceptable actions such as marketing tobacco to children – very few people are truly “free speech absolutists” who oppose such measures. Likewise, such is the nature of the “paradox of tolerance”, as philosopher Karl Popper called it, that we must not extend freedom of speech to fascists, who will deny this very right to others at the first chance. Reproducing their propaganda and circulating it to a huge audience as The Isle of Man Examiner has done is politically illiterate and utterly ignorant of the nature of the fascist threat. This matter is especially serious given the context of the recent fearmongering about sex education in the QEII High School in Peel.

Groups such as the one recently reported on aim to sow division and hate, scapegoating the most vulnerable in society for problems which are caused by an economic system that makes the lives of so many so difficult. In presenting immigrants and refugees as responsible for issues such as the housing crisis or austerity, fascists serve as useful idiots for the powerful, distracting attention from the real source of people’s woes. As Max Horkheimer, a Jewish refugee from nazi Germany, famously wrote in 1939, “whoever is not prepared to talk about capitalism should also remain silent about fascism”.

As has often been noted, rather than beginning with death camps, fascism ends with them. By giving such an enormous platform to a nauseating white supremacist group, the Isle of Man Examiner has unwittingly contributed to the growth of this ideology, and in doing so put at risk immigrants, people of colour, LGBT+ people, trade unionists and many more who fall afoul of the disgusting ideas spread by fascist groups. Let this mistake not be made again, and all their propaganda removed from the paper’s online presence immediately.

Anti-fascism is self-defence. No pasarán – cha jed ad shaghey!

An Dr. Ben Ó Ceallaigh

Ollscoil Aberystwyth