Just wondering which of the designated Gaeltacht areas would have the strongest Irish speaking community? Being from Australia it is hard to get a feel for how proficient these communities are because some people would have you believe these areas are thriving and others say they're floundering.

Go raibh maith agat
Diarmuid

Corca Dhuibhne west of An Daingean, and off the tourist track.

Gaoth Dobhair is supposed to be good, but I have no personal experience of it.

Inis Óirr, Inis Méain (Aran Islands)
Parts of Conamara - the further from Galway town the better.

Try Toraigh Island, seperate from the mainland by 8 miles, I think. The people are rather independant minded, and you get the impression (from afar) that they would speak Irish regardless of who is or is not on the big island 'off thier coast'

I know Gaoth Dobhair very well: I don't have heard much English there. Children speak Irish together. When you speak to someone in Irish, he answers in Irish and is not surprised.
Same thing in Gort a' Choirce (children speak Irish when playing together), Toraigh (never heard a single word of English there, even between teenagers; actually they don't speak English very well, I think), Rann na Feirste.

I heard that Irish is strong in the Blue Stack Mountains (central Donegal), that their Irish is very good and my teacher told me that if there is a place in Ireland where you would find people who can’t speak English, only Irish, it would be there.

I don't know the other Gaeltachtaí.

there is, as was noted, a marked departure in the assessment of language health in the gaeltacht depending on who's doing the assessing. I've heard both heartening news in the form of gaeilge media ratings and news of language reacquision in some weak areas on the border of the gaeltacht, as well as indication that virtually none of the gaeltacht children are electing to use the language except when they are required to at school.

i'd like to think that the hopeful/not hopeful dichotomy is due to the gaeilge being there, just under the surface...available to the gaeilge speaking searcher but purposely hidden from any english speaking observer.

some of the bad news, however, seems to come from gaeltacht residents and native speakers themselves, so that may not be the case.

What is the best way to measure it all? What is the most accurate interpretation of the data available now? I'd like to believe that the language is holding its own now, poised to begin making headway again in the next 50-100 years...is that really too much to hope for?

"is that really too much to hope for?"

I might be being pessimistic, but I think it is. I think it'll hover around the level it's at now and in a short while, begin a descent. It'll still be taught but it'll become archaic and only spoken by English speakers on special occasions, like happens now in non-Gaeltacht places. Then eventually, I'd say it'll be abandoned altogether except by the learners who want to preserve it, somewhat like Manx now.

I've heard that the number of Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht went up from 64,000 to 65,000 last year. Also, the census says that 1.5m people speak Irish, and that it's been improving a good bit since the foundation of the state. Yet I have never encountered anyone with much of a care for it. Make of all that what you will.

>1.5m people speak Irish

That's nonsense. Or maybe, much of those are the people who remember some sentences they've learnt by heart at school. But are those 1.5m of people able to hold a conversation (?is it right in English? i meant : comhrá a dhéanamh) in Irish? Sure they aren't. Not 1.5m.

"Also, the census says that 1.5m people speak Irish,"

I don't wish to insult anyone, but the Irish census is the joke of statistics. It is a rather strange thing in the first place to measure language ability in a census instead of language use. If the same methods were applied in Finland, about 3m would be English speakers... The other thing is that they don't even measure language ability, many of those who say they speak Irish can only say a few phrases. The equivalent in Finland would be that 95% would claim that they are French speakers.

To return to the question, I don't know much about Donegal, but some villages in Corca Dhuibhne and Conamara are definitely very strong. I've spent weeks in both areas without any English at all.

You know there are parts of Brazil where its $10 an acre....(for rainforest).

Find somewhere uninhabited, and everyone move there. Suddenly the gaeltact is bigger than Western Europe! ONly problem is that uninhabied land is high/forest/desert/tundra/under 5 miles of ice

Maybe we need to think outside the (Irish) box here...

Dalta as far as i know the number of Gaeilgeoirí sa Ghaeltacht is more like the figure of Gaeilgeoirí sna Stáit Aontaithe i.e. 25,000. Check csi.ie and udaras.ie
The figure you're refering to is from what i know nearer to 1 million and it was the response to the question in the census that asked something like 'do you possess some level of being able to speak irish'
Since the Saor Stát was setup the no. of ppl who can speak Gaeilge has increased but the number using it sa Ghaeltacht has fallen. And these figures are respectively growing and falling as we speak.
I know Rath Cairn is 50/50 and so is An Rínn - but i'd say the majority of children use english when together..
Gaoth Dobhair Rann na Feirste agus Machaire Rabhairte i dTír Chonaill are very strong and some areas of Gaillimh (particularly the more secluded areas to the West) the munchies "muintir na h-áite" would look at u strange if you spoke bloody béarla!! Im So gona move there!! Legends the lot of them!

A member of my family spent the summer of 2002 studying at Oideas Gael, which is located in the town of Glenncolumbcille, Donegal. Publicity for the school identifies the area as Gaeltacht. Outside the classrooms, the only opportunities to mix with the locals arose in the pubs in the evening. I'm told that most of the young residents either spoke no Irish or refused to do so in the prensence of the blow ins. Moreover, the big spenders in the pubs were the English speakers, and the publicans tended to accomodate them by speaking English.

Perhaps this is a case of "When the Romans come to town, do as the Romans do."

Had I been one of the students, I would have felt cheated.

we also have to keep in mind that trying to pin down a decent prediction of the future of gaeilge is to hit a moving target.

teaching quality and approach (as well as other state approaches) change every so many years, and so it is hard to say what the effect of efforts will be ten, twenty or fifty years down the road. What is now perhaps a slight rate of increase (microscopic) may turn into rapid increase with the next innovation, or it may go the other way and the bottom drop out entirely.

It think it's a matter of "marketing" it to the public. Hit on the right pitching method (youth oriented media, EU opportunities, or something no one has yet concieved) and we may see it take off...

perhaps we can have the schoolchildren wear some sort of counter...nothing expensive...maybe a stick on a string or something...and then every time the kid speaks english, it could be marked somehow, and then punishments doled out accordingly...hm...it has a familiar ring to it...(sarcasm, just in case that got by anyone)

i've heard that the basques have a good model for minority language revival that began with adopting a standard. anybody from spain here know what the basques are up to? i'd love to know what made their methods so appealing to the gentleman I overheard.

http://www.cso.ie/statistics/irishspeakerssince1861.htm

quote:

Note: A new question on ability to speak the Irish language and frequency of speaking Irish was introduced in the 1996 Census of Population

Details for 2002 are here

http://www.eirestat.cso.ie/census/ReportFolders/reportfolders.aspx

These two tables are interesting

Daily speakers: http://www.eirestat.cso.ie/Census/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=2332

Person who filled the form was an Irish speaker:
http://www.eirestat.cso.ie/Census/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=2319

What I don't see, but would like to, is an analysis of how many households there are where at least one adult is a daily speaker, and children are too. i.e. How many people are bringing up there children speaking Irish. It is said that the statistics are skewed by schoolchildren being put down as daily speakers of Irish (because they do in class), but I don't know whether that has been confirmed. Maybe in the next census they will put in a note "except in school" - that would be good.

As I understand it, Éamon Ó Cuív's plans for Gaeltacht reform include socio-linguistic studies to establish whether communities a) speak Irish, b) want it to be the language of the community.

These statistics don't seem to be serious... First of all, there are mistakes in the Irish phrases, like "ar cuid de Cathar na Gaillimhe" > should be "ar CHuid de CHathaIr na Gaillimhe". Three mistakes in one phrase!

Writing final -ar instead of -air shows that the person who has written it can't pronounce Irish properly, but pronounces all r's as in English: in Irish there's a clear difference between slender and broad r's: a person who makes that difference in speech knows when he must write a slender r and a broad one...

And what does this mean: "Ulaidh (cuid de)"? Which part of it are they talking about?

Other thing: i saw on a paper edited by Raidió na Gaeltachta that Donegal was the place in which there are the most numerous Irish speakers. That's not what they say in these statistics...

(Message edited by Lughaidh on August 06, 2005)

Ulaidh (cuid de): An chuid sin atá sna fiche sé contae.

The Statistics are from the Website of the Central Statistics Office. And Census Figures are self reported - the RnaG figures might be from a more accurate survey.

I think the Grammar has caught you out. It is meamráiméis - County Galway, of which Galway City forms part

"there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics"
-Benjamin Disraeli

The only thing I would claim for these census figures is that they show there is widespread interest in the language in Ireland. This is important in that it allows Éamon Ó Cuív to argue his case for legislation to finally give Irish speakers their rights despite a small, nasty and vocal minority in the papers tearing strips off him everytime he does something which might improve matters.

>they show there is widespread interest in the language >in Ireland

that's not the impression i had when i was there...

Bhí tú ag caint leis na daoine mí chearta, mar sin ;-).

An fadhbh ná gur beag duine atá sásta gníomhú. Ach tá an tacaíocht maoithneach falsa usáideach uaireanta.

"when i was there..." Well you're not here so its not for you to say! Agus is fíor é,tá an-thacaíocht ann don teanga ach ní bhíonn an chuid is mó de mhuintir an oileain sásta gníomhú ar an drochuair.

">they show there is widespread interest in the language >in Ireland

that's not the impression i had when i was there..."

that is exactly the impression I got when I was there in june. lots of interest among the english speakers, lamenting the fact that they let their skills slip once they were out of school.

I think i heard three minutes of gaeilge in the gaeltacht, tho...two shopkeepers to eachother and one was a child calling up the street to his parents. it needs to be said, though, that i was only in the most heavily touristed areas as a dozen busloads of american tourists invaded the town for lunch and bathrooms, so the disheartening aspect of it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

i even had a dublin protestant make it known to me (unsolicited, he just came out of nowhere in st. pat's) that he knew what my shirt said, (ní bheidh mo leithead arís ann...a takeoff of a peig sayers quote regarding the blasket residents)

i'd say the interest is there. the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak...most people I spoke to want it saved, just so long as they don't actually have to do any more work themselves...sigh...

takeoff of a peig sayers Tómás Ó Criomhtain quote regarding the blasket residents

(Much better book, An tOileánach - and his other stuff i sgreat too. Try and get hold of it).

really? I'd seen it on a poster attributed to peig...harumph...if you can't trust posters, who can you trust? ;-)

I am, at the moment, cursed with a small vocabulary. I had the same thing happen when I was studying french...I had few people as conversation partners, so I learned lots of grammar and structure, but couldn't remember words. I'm working my way through Dúnmharú ar and Dart and An Tobar before I try to tackle any heavy literature...

I actually have something that looks like it's going to be very interesting...Ó Mháigh go Fásach...anybody read it? I haven't started it yet,but my understanding is that it's an as gaeilge account of a priest's missionary work in kenya.

>Bhí tú ag caint leis na daoine mí chearta, mar sin ;-).

Char roghnaigh mé iad.

>An fadhbh

an fhadhb, cf fadhb [ainmfhocal baininscneach den dara díochlaonadh] fadharcán, cnapán; cruacheist. (deirim féin [@ Najb], cad é mar a fhuaimníos tusa, má scríobhann tú "an fadhbh"? [@n fajv]?)

>ná gur beag duine atá sásta gníomhú. Ach tá an tacaíocht maoithneach falsa usáideach uaireanta.

>"when i was there..." Well you're not here so its not for you to say!

sorry I’m not Irish so I should shut my mouth because everything I say is wrong though you are always right because you are Irish.

>Agus is fíor é, tá an-thacaíocht ann

an-tacaíocht: ní bhíonn séimhiú ar bith ar d, t, s i ndiaidh na réimíre an-. Gabh mo leithscéal, cé nach Éireannach mé, ní dhéanaimse féin meancógaí mar sin.

>don teanga ach ní bhíonn an chuid is mó de mhuintir an oileain sásta gníomhú ar an drochuair.

Má tá an méid sin dúile ag an phobal ins an teangaí, cad chuige nach bhfuil níos mó acu a labhras í? cad chuige ar fuath leis a’ chuid is mó do na páistí scoile an Ghaeilg?

Nó ar athraigh an scéal go hiomláin ó 2002? Ba bhreá liom go gcuirfeá iontas orm...

People want Irish to be vibrant and etc. but people also want to do volunteer work, be fit, stick to their diet, work out, be better people, etc, etc, etc. Doesn't mean they're gonna do anything about it. It rests squarely in the hand of dedicated people and the government. In other words, dedicated people. I.E. us. And I for one propose setting up Gaeltachts in Dublin and Cork. Something like Gaeilgeoirs sharing flats and things, and then hopefully it might grow, if people do actually have much of a care for it. Marketing of things like Conradh na Gaeilge cómhrá nights or whatever they have. Also Foras na Gaeilge(or someone) sponsered "Irish nights" in bars and places to go and practise your Irish. I think we should get a list of sugggestions and send them to FnaG(or someone) and keep pestering them about them if they don't follow through.

But, making it cool is a step in the right direction. Kids do what's cool and if kids in the Gaeltacht think it's cool to speak Irish, they'll do it. Unfortunately the 'coolisation' of Irish has come in the form of Hector Ó hEochagáin(sp?), saying "Tá mé absolutely knackered, boyos... Wahey Navan!!!!" and so forth. I think some people refer here to it as "Dublin Irish", or "shit" as I call it.

I think Dalta's idea of Irish speakers sharing flats/houses in Dublin and Cork is an excellent idea. I'm going to live for a while in prob Conamara and afterwards if I come back I will set up a Gaeltacht in my native county by organising a public meeting to see what interest there is . All thats needed is a site with planning permission then fluent speakers from home and afar could start a mass migration . We have an Amish mennonite community in Co.Waterford so how difficult would it be to set up a Gaeltacht?

quote:

>Bhí tú ag caint leis na daoine mí chearta, mar sin ;-).

Char roghnaigh mé iad.

Greann dóite a bhí i gceist, a Lughaidh. Cuireann sé cantal ormsa chomh maith go mbíonn daoine ag fógairt tacaíocht don Ghaeilge, chomh fada agus nach gcuireann sé aon dua orthu. Ach i dtearmaí Realpolitik is fearr an tacaíocht sin a bheith ann ná as, nuair a táthar ag plé le dearg naimhde na teangan sna méain cumarsáide - agus táid ann, agus fairsing. Chuige sin amháin atáim.

Maidir le "fuath" na gasúr scoile, tá sin amhlaidh i gcás aon abháir a bhfuiltear á mhúineadh go holc. Faraor, tá m úineadh teangacha go holc sa tír seo, agus múineadh na Gaeilge níos measa na teangacha eile.

For the record: I don't see eye to eye with Lughaidh on many things, but he has taken a lot of trouble to learn Irish, and also seems to be an expert linguist with a lot of knowledge on the subject.

Saying he is not from Ireland, and therefore his opinion doesn't count, is just plain silly, in my (never humble) opinion.

eh...could have been said with a bit more tact, but my understand is that Domhnall is living in the gaeltacht (or at least in the country in question) and so would have the best handle of all of us on what is really going on there (attitudes, policies etc)

According to his profile, he is living in County Louth.
I live in Wicklow. Both are on the (Irish) East Coast, and fairly far from the Gaeltacht.

Even if he did live in a Gaeltacht, that does not mean that Lughaidh doesn't have a right to his (strongly held) opinion, or shouldn't express it here.

Lughaidh has spent a lot of time (a year, I think) in Gaoth Dobhair Gaeltacht, and is probably still in contact with people there.

I disagree with his attitude because I think it is purist and utopian, but he makes many valid points.

I understand, and like i said, it probably could have been stated better, but to be able to say, "i live there and this is what i see" seems to hold more water than "i was there for an extended period of time some time in the past, and from an ocean (or channel) away i'm told X"

but the distinction is a moot one as what was being discussed was not so much fact as opinion and interpretation of events...

Togha Fhir a Liam.

Ach, i don't think it'll be as easy as you make out. In Brúgh na Mhí, the new sráidbháile being built in Rath Gairbh, there's only one house built and not sold. I think it's been built for a while too. It's best to start small, i.e. someone living in a flat on their own, advertising for a Gaeilgeoir to live with him/her. I'm not even sure if that would be legal, discrimination and what not. Then if such a thing proves succesful, one could try get other people to do it, or encourage Gaeilgeoirs to move to that particular flat complex and the thing could expand. With, in the end, best case scenario, a fully-working Gaeltacht outside the traditional Gaeltacht areas, with shops, businesses, housing estates, kids playing in a park talking Irish, etc. We can dream ar aon nós.

I know some people in Dublin who share a flat with other Irish speakers - so it is already happening at that level.

http://www.comhluadar.ie exists to provide social occasions for (small) children from families who are bringing up their children bilingually.

Small steps are happening. Large steps are difficult, because you need to provide meaningful employment in Irish to get a community.

Shared love of the language alone will not make a community, it needs more. I think that is why the Shaw's road project in Belfast worked - there was a pre existing sense of community.

Similar endeavours in the south have come to nothing, because there was no other key shared values.

What's Shaw's road project? Is that that mini-Gaeltacht in Belfast?

What do you mean by 'key shared values', a sense of community and what-not? I'd say that could be developed if there was a local pub or if people made an effort. Are businesses really neccesary? As long as the people are close, or can get to the CBD of a city, they won't need any business run in Irish, even a local shop wouldn't be neccessary. That stuff could be developed later when there's a big enough community.

i'd say businesses are absolutely necessary. think how much time of your day is spent either working for a business, or dealing with a business yourself. if all that's got to be done in english, well...

...economics is gaeilge's worst enemy...

But once you leave the business you can talk away in Irish with your mates and your family. Then, if it the new Gaeltacht grows large enough, businesses will follow. It'ld be handy for Conradh na Gaeilge and people, cause they'd know where to advertise, they could even set up shop there, they'd be garaunteed people with Irish.

"But once you leave the business" as both employee and customer... this doesn't leave enough of your daily life left to tip the scales

Exactly. A language which is simply a hearth language will die. There isn't enough incentive for business, since they know that people will do their business in english if they have to, or if doing business in Irish leads to delays or additional effort.

Otherwise there would have been no need for the Languages Act, because the services would have been provided.

Any new gaeltacht will have to have a core of people who are employed there in a way that makes it possible to work through Irish.

I disagree, I think before businesses, there needs to be a demand for such things. In wouldn't be a hearth language. As long as the kids and people use it when talking to each other, that's by far the most important thing. If they have to go to the Galltacht to get money, grand, then they can come back and return to the normal thing of talking Irish.

Eighty years of decline bears out my point.

People stick to the language they first spoke to people in most cases. Most people one meets are met in the context of work. These often become social conatcts. But they will remian social contacts in English.

"handy for Conradh na Gaeilge and people, cause they'd know where to advertise"

Foras na Gaeilge, Conradh etc. Old hat.

Conradh must think W.B. Yeats will be popping in for a photo-op and sound bite. Their shop was the stink of languishment. One boo I bought there on the 'psychology of learning' has an invoice slip inside. The book sat there for 15 years...still only reading-lite does any business these days.

"What's Shaw's road project? Is that that mini-Gaeltacht in Belfast?"

Yep. The AndiesTown news prints Lá there too. There is now granchildren born there whose paretn grew up spekaing Irish, that their parents learned. I guess that makes them the first generation of native Irish speakers in Norn Iron for over a century

"Any new gaeltacht will have to have a core of people who are employed there in a way that makes it possible to work through Irish"

Absolutely. You gonna live on Irish words, or money from an English speaking job?

rann na feirste is excellent i went this summer and i learnt loads of irish...... is maith loim rann na feirste tá se go maith

Rann na Feirste - Ait den scoth..
Anois a chairde.. Gan ollbhéim faoi sin i just meant that i think you're wrong and im here - in Eirinn - (An Rinn, Rath Cairn, Baile Atha Cliath agus Co.Lú) and from my everyday experince i think u were wrong.. "Saying he is not from Ireland, and therefore his opinion doesn't count," Please dont put words in my mouth, I didnt say that, K?

Anois "lots of interest among the english speakers, lamenting the fact that they let their skills slip once they were out of school." Yep thats an extremely common regret people in Eirinn have.

Bord na Gaeilge give scholarships for accomodation to Gaeilgeoirí in UCD and its being introduced to my college next year - DCU.
Making the language cool and more accessible especially in a social way is defo the right way forward..

That mini-Gaeltacht idea has got huge potential..especially dublin.. I can see myself working for something like that in the future..Sure just use a bad boy compulsory purchase order for Kildare Street - You've already got caifé Una, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge etc etc so get ppl to live there and the demand for services will be there.. I knew those economics lectures would come in handy!

>>But, making it cool is a step in the right direction. Kids do what's cool and if kids in the Gaeltacht think it's cool to speak Irish, they'll do it. Unfortunately the 'coolisation' of Irish has come in the form of Hector Ó hEochagáin(sp?), saying "Tá mé absolutely knackered, boyos... Wahey Navan!!!!" and so forth. I think some people refer here to it as "Dublin Irish", or "shit" as I call it.<<

hahaha. The mechanics and workings of being cool are very complex machinations that nobody really knows the dark of. I can safely say that many Americans and particularly Irish-Americans think Irish is the most awesome thing since sliced bread.

The various posts about setting up gaeltachtaí sound great. Myself, I'm hoping to go to either UCD or NUIG for college around 2007, and studying something like Celtic Studies/Irish Studies/Celtic Civilization/etc.. Unsure what I'd do with a degree in one of those things but there you are.

>>It's best to start small, i.e. someone living in a flat on their own, advertising for a Gaeilgeoir to live with him/her. I'm not even sure if that would be legal, discrimination and what not. Then if such a thing proves succesful, one could try get other people to do it, or encourage Gaeilgeoirs to move to that particular flat complex and the thing could expand. With, in the end, best case scenario, a fully-working Gaeltacht outside the traditional Gaeltacht areas, with shops, businesses, housing estates, kids playing in a park talking Irish, etc. We can dream ar aon nós.<<

Personally I don't think anyone could sue and manage to win in a court of law against someone trying to grow an irish gaelic community...

Gotta love you Americans!
There's a law here where if the government wants to build something they can forcably buy someone out (i know it sounds a bit facist but its not really!) so if the Dept. of the Gaeltacht decided to go ahead they'd most likely succeed!

Yay for Eire!

Ha - that crack against Hector was fugging hilarious. I never know what to make of that guy - on one hand his standard of irish wrecks my head, but on the other some episodes are actually pretty inciteful, especially amú amigos. I particulary like that episode where he's in the middle east doing a piece to camera and there's about ten men in the background who are obviously having a conversation about what the hell language he's speaking.

Also, what annoys me is the programmes on TG4 which automatically have english subtitles. When they're there I can't help reading them, when they're not I understand everything fine. Sigh.

D.f. - what to do with celtic studies? up in the scottish universities, they have some great paid ph.d s for celtic language studies. The problem with an arts degree is that it only gives you two choices: academia or a job you could have done when you were 17. Trust me on this one. I went to DCU and all i got was this lousy t-shirt, i mean arts degree.

While I'm getting things off my chest, up opposite the garden of rememberence is a building with the fingal crest up above the door, and under that is the motto: Beart do reir ar mbriathar - only all its little fadas and h-dots have been deleted in a re-painting. Also whatever happened to Flúirse Talaimh is Mara. standards, sigh.

>Also, what annoys me is the programmes on TG4 which >automatically have english subtitles. When they're >there I can't help reading them, when they're not I >understand everything fine. Sigh.

Stick a piece of paper on the lower part of your TV in order to hide subtitles! :-)

>D.f. - what to do with celtic studies? up in the >scottish universities, they have some great paid ph.d s >for celtic language studies. The problem with an arts >degree is that it only gives you two choices: academia >or a job you could have done when you were 17.

Choose academia then ;-)

"I went to DCU and all i got was this lousy t-shirt, i mean arts degree. "

Arts i mo choláiste? Did ya go to coláiste Phadraig?
You shuda done mo chursa - - http://www.dcu.ie/fiontar/
Gnéasach is not the word!!!! C'est formidable!!

Gnéasach? Sexual? Cha dtuigim cad é atá i gceist agat a chara :-)

Literally ní hé gnéasach an focal toisc gur céim atá i gceist. ;)

Sexy is gnéasúil, más é seo an rud ba mhian leat a ráidht :-) Cibé ar bith, is dóigh liom gur spíon muid an t-ábhar sin amach anseo, fán dóigh a ndeirtear "sexy" i bhfíor-Ghaeilg. Nó ab é ar yahoogroup íneacht a rinn muid? Chan cuimhin liom.

Bizarrely, I did go to Coláiste Phadraig. It's nice to see another DCU head on this board, representing the north side, etc. Alas you are too young to remember the little section at the back of the canteen reserved exclusively for people who spoke Irish. That was where you would find your lot. I would sit there sometimes when the canteen was busy and think in English. Then I would look around and wonder 'can they tell?', ahh it was so subversive, man. We were on the edge. But of course, this is what happens when you make 17 year olds study linguistics and philosophy.

"Gneasach" - it's so gaeltacht. All those raging hormones. Whoever had the idea of taking 150 teenagers, putting them all within three square miles and then forbidding them to speak English, was a damn genius. 'An feiceann tu and cinire sin? Ta se an-gneasach, nach ea?' Ahh, I heard it many a time on the streets of Anagary. Happy days.

Businesses aren't everything, businesses will grow after the blocks have been put in place, and all that's needed there is for things to be done. It doesn't even require dedication. If one neighbourhood speaks Irish, all they gotta do is speak Irish, that's it, then pubs, shops etc. will grow up there, people who live in the places, people with Irish will work there and set up these businesses and then wahey, a mini-Gaeltacht.

Aonghus, eighty years of decline wasn't brought out through lack of Irish-medium business and you know it. There was a myriad of factors that I'm sure we've all read a hundred times before. Social contacts from work is fine, you'll go to a different pub with them, but if the people moving into these places care about Irish, which of course they will otherwise they wouldn't move in to these places, they'll speak Irish locally with friends they meet locally. I feel some kind of Gaeilge pub would need to be set up at the inception of one of these things to help things along. But if people meet and become friends and then go to pubs together, they'll speak Irish.

"Absolutely. You gonna live on Irish words, or money from an English speaking job?"
The English speaking job will be outside the mini-Gaeltacht and won't have a big affect on it, you can get paid in English, then spend it in Irish.

At least it can be tried anyway, I hope we all agree on that.

"another DCU head on this board, representing the north side" Afraid im not a northsider but yep gota love Dcu it is sexy(!)

Fan soicind pet - - "Alas you are too young to remember the little section at the back of the canteen reserved exclusively for people who spoke Irish."
Im sorry i presume you're talking about Cúinne na Gaeilge wit those bad-boy leather sofa's.. I lived there!!!! You see im fairly high-up sa Chumann Gaelach, páirteach on d Irish language college committee, Gaeilgeoir agus Mac léinn Fiontar so i had heart failure when i saw some russian dude pull down the sign.
They were baught for Gaeilgeoirí and they'll be given to Galldóirí over my dead body! We're in the middle of trying to get a room where anyone can use their cúpla focal and move those chairs to that room.. Also we're trying to get bord na gaeilge to organise accomodation for gaeilgeoirí and sort out the Offical Langauges Act out for the coláiste.. Busy busy..
I was SO SO tempted to put a sign up at that table sayin "if you're not going to speak irish please dont sit here" or "these chairs are here as an incentive to speak irish so please use your cúpla focal"

But it wuda given the language a bad name - em we'll see about that wen i take over in September..
*Its time to embrace the superior race*

Sofas!!!! You guys have sofas? Boy, were those ever before my time. Cuinne na gaeilge was a small area, fenced off by trellis with those chairs that are fixed to the tables, like in mac donalds. And then, the whole place got done up in 1999 and cuinne na gaeilge disappeared. Glad to see it's back. And with sofas.

D- don't get me started on DCU removing society stuff behind your back. When I came back from summer holidays in 1999, I was doing drama soc stuff, and the key in my hand, i walked over to our theatre. Snag. The building was gone. Demolished with all our stuff inside, and I had no where to go after a nights drinking in the slipper.

Regarding a sign, I think that a simple plaque emblazoned with the phrase 'What Would Hector Do?' would suffice.

Yep DCU have wised-up and have begun to cherish one of their most precious assets..

Only Gaeilgeoirí know who hector is.. and what that sign would mean..