How is the Irish in this city, or the opportunities of getting involved in it somehow? My town and Limerick are sister cities, so I'm slightly curious about in the far future considering a summer program of some sort …

Seosamh Mac Muirí lectures in Irish in UL. Perhaps he'll have something to say, if he still looks in.

Is eagal liom gur fearr an geimhreadh ná an samhradh maidir le gnóthaí Gaeilge.
Matters are better in winter than summer a Aindréas. Two occasions may be mentioned, that you may like to browse.

Cuirtear ranganna Gaeilge ar siúl mar chuid de BLAS http://www.ul.ie/~iwmc/Blas/index.html agus b'fhéidir go n-eagródh Deirdre Ní Loingsigh siúlóidí arís ag an Ionad Eachtraíochta (amuigh ag Loch Deirgeirt) ach níl sí róchinnte faoi sin go fóill.

D’fhéadfá súil a chaitheamh ar www.merriman.ie i Lios Dúin Bhearna 19 Lúnasa ar feadh seachtaine.


Is annamh mé ar sciúird abhus a Aonghuis, go deimhin, le barr cruóige, ní fhaca mé rud ar bith le tamall ach clog agus dialann oibre gan bearna sosa. Mhaolaigh gach fuadar inné, tuairim 1.00, agus beidh lá nó dhó na seachtaine seo chugainn ciúin, tá súil le Dia agam.

Go maire tú do scíth, mar sin!

Mholfainn duit gan dul chuig an áit sin!
I'd recommend not going to Limerick.. Galway, Dublin and Belfast are much better cities!

Yeah, I hear Galway is quite the bilingual city … I imagine if I ever do get a chance to go to Ireland, there are better options than Limerick, but that would certainly be the easiest as far as costs would go. *shrugs*

Why would Limerick be cheaper than Galway, etc?

Chuaigh mé trí Luimneach faoi dhó.

Sa bhliain 2001, bhí mé ar bhus a chuaigh tríd an gcathair. Cheap mé gur chathair shalach é. Bhí cuma ghruama ar na sráideanna agus graifítí ar na ballaí.

Anuraidh, chuamar tríd an gcathair arís i charr. Chuir an chathair Chicago is Milwaukee i gcuimhne dom. Tá sí suite ar bhruach na Sionainne, agus tá caladh tráchta is tionscail throma shalacha ann. Níos Meiriceánaí ná aon chathair eile in Éirinn, dar liomsa.
Sin mo bharúil, ar aon nós.

(I've driven through Limerick twice, and it reminded me of an dirty industrial American city like Chicago or Milwaukee.)

"Stab City" an leasainm a bhíodh ar Luimneach tráth.

If anyone's posts are addressed to me, I don't speak/read Irish, so I have no idea what you're saying. =P Sorry. Tried picking a few words out with a dictionary but I pretty much failed miserably …

Lucy, because my city and Limerick are sister cities, they often have exchange programs, and pay for most of the trip. I doubt the Limerick exchange program would want to send me to Galway and still pay for it. =D

Tuigaim anois. I'd say go for it if you can get such a deal. It may not be the Mecca some people think Galway is but there many historic sights (Treaty Stone, King John's castle, etc) and trad music and probably Conradh na Gaeilge has something on there. You get out of a trip what you bring to it. Go with an open mind and learn. I have been there several times and have enjoyed it. You may even be able to take a bus or train to Galway if you have free time. What have you got to lose and, if you don't go, what will you be doing instead?

Liz, riding on a bus and two car trips thru a city don't give you a chance to know a place. Highways and bus routes usually don't go thru the best parts of a city.

I don’t have strong feelings about Luimneach one way or the other but it is the kind of place which seems to evoke strong feelings in others. Frank O’Connor (a Corkman), the great short story writer, translated Cúirt an Mhean Oíche, the brilliant 18th Century poem by Bryan Merriman into English. This epic poem is, arguably, the greatest piece of literature ever written in the Irish language. In his introduction to the translation (written in 1945) O’Connor has some unflattering things to say about Limerick, mar shampla:

“Architecturally, the little city of Limerick is one of the pleasantest spots in Ireland. The Georgian town stands at the other side of the river from the medieval town which has a castle with drum towers and a cathedral with a transitional Cistercian core and a fifteenth century shell., all in curling papers of battlements. Across the bridge are the charming Custom House with its arcade cemented up by some genius from the Board of Works; Arthur’s Quay falling into a ruin of tenements, and a fine long street of the purest Georgian which ends in a double crescent. There is no tablet in Clare Street to mark where Bryan Merriman, the author of the Midnight Court, died, nor is there ever likely be, for Limerick has a reputation for piety.

“Merriman was ignored by Georgian society in Limerick. But in death he has taken a terrible revenge. The great wine-coloured Georgian cliffs are being steadily eaten away by Rathmines Romanesque and Ruabon Renaissance. Nowhere else in Ireland has Irish Puritanism such power. Leaning over the bridge in the twilight, looking up the river at the wild hills of Clare from which old Merryman came so long ago, you can hear a Georgian choir chanting 'Et Expecto resurrectionem mortuorum', and go back through the street where he walked, reflecting that in Limerick there isn’t much else to expect.”

Limerick has changed a lot since then but its reputation has not improved. Ironically from being regarded as a place of excessive piety (a la Angela’s Ashes) it is now portrayed, in the Irish media, as a place of excessive criminality. I suspect that both reputations are undeserved, yet I would not advise any tourist to visit the place.

Mo mhíle phardúin; mise a scríobh an méid thuas. Dála an scéal, an bhfuil fhios ag éinne an bhfuil leacht i gcuimhne Bryan Merriman i Luimneach fós?

Go raibh maith agat, Fiacc. B'fhiú an sliocht sin a léamh.

>> Dála an scéal, an bhfuil fhios ag éinne an bhfuil leacht i gcuimhne Bryan Merriman i Luimneach fós?

Tá, ar ndóigh, agus tá cearnóg bheag baiste ina dhiaidh ag ceann thiar Shr. an Chláir, an áit a bhfuil an leacht cuimhneacháin.


>> .... Galway, Dublin and Belfast are much better cities!
>> .... I suspect that both reputations are undeserved, yet I would not advise any tourist to visit the place.

Ní as Luimneach na Long mé féin ach tá taithí fhada na háite agam faoin am seo. Chaitheas blianta fada i nGaillimh, roinnt blianta i mBÁC agus is as taobh Shligigh mé. Chonaic mé níos mó fola dá doirteadh i nGaillimh ná in áit ar bith eile mar gur ann a oibríos doirseacha dioscó le snáithe a choinneáil faoin bhfiacail nuair a bhí mé san ollscoil. Briseadh mo chnámha in eachtraí éagsúla. Bhí orm cuachadh mar liathróid le theacht slán as speachadh slua 14/15. Sáitheadh cara liom le linn do bheirt acu mé a thabhairt slán as. Maraíodh é ina dhiaidh sin lasmuigh de Ghaillimh nuair a bhí sé ag tiomáint abhaile istoíche ar ghluaisrothar. Theith an meisceoir tiománaí ach lean cailín é gur bhuail sé faoin gclaí scathamh fada ar shiúl. D'fhreastail an tiománaí ar an tsochraid in éineacht léi. Scaoileadh urchar i ndiaidh urchair liom agus le triúr gasúr eile nuair a bhí mé 4-5 bliana d'aois i Sligeach na blianta fadó agus gortaíodh buachaill den chomhluadar go dona, os comhar mo dhá shúl. Chonac eachtra i mBÁC oíche eile a raibh mé féin le robáil ag stócach cruadhéanta ach nár oibrigh sé amach mar sin. Chuireas aithne ar lucht slada i gcathracha eile thar lear ach ligidís liom i gcónaí in áit amháin mar go raibh a gcuid rialacha féin acu. Thug canúint mo chuid Béarla slán mé ó mhuintir an Tóchair ag Highfield Rugby Club oíche amháin nuair a mheas roinnt i láthair gurbh as tuaisceart Chorcaigh mé! http://www.highfield-rugby.com/
An tiománaí a bhuailfeas isteach faoi do charr ag crosbhealach faoin tuaith, beidh sé ar sciorradh fuadair isteach go cathair/baile mór éigin nó ar fuadar amach as.

Gearr marc ar an méid seo: Is contúirteach gach cathair agus is contúirteach gach duine, idir fhear, bhean is aosán! Is í mo chomhairle, fanacht glan ar GACH cathair, ar gach glas tráchta agus ar gach dioscó!
'Ní hionann dul chun an bhaile mhór agus teacht thar n-ais' mar a deir siad.

Pádraig Ó Mileadha (Maol Aodha) a chum (tá na focail seo cineál ann as):

Tá crainnín aonair a bhfuil air géaga
A bhriseann géirshioc is gaoth aduaidh
Ag fás go treorach ó thráth nach eol dom
Is sásta gleoite é, is breá, is buan,
Tá éinín páirteach ar ghéig ‘na bharr san
‘S é go fáiltiúil ag labhairt ó chroí
‘S i bhfios dom féineach, tá suite taobh leis
Im thig beag aerach sa ngleann seo thíos

Tá sruth ar m’eolas ag rith go ceolmhar
As ucht an mhórchnoic le fánaí anuas
A bhfuil poirt is féar glas á fhoilsiú in éineacht
‘S á chur gan bhuíochas ‘na bráighe chun cuain
Tá an t-eas ag géimnigh ann an breac ag léimnigh
‘S an bheach ag saothrú le fonn chun tís
‘S mise im aonar cois tine ag éisteacht
Im thig beag aereach sa ghleann seo thíos.

Ó éirí na gréine go dtéann sí fé thiar,
Tá a haghaidh go séimhgheal ar m’áras féin,
Is ionmhain léithí mo phinniúr aolmhar,
‘S m’fhuinneog léir ghlan i lár an lae
Is deas gan bhréig díbh a thagann ré dhó
‘S í ag bailiú léithí thar toinn is tír -
Níl ionad saolta chomh clúthar néata
Lem' thig beag aerach sa ghleannseo thíos.

Ní iarrfainn aoibhneas, ní iarrfainn saoirse,
Ní iarrfainn choíche caislean ná cúirt,
Níl eolas uaimse ar ór ná ar uaisleacht,
Ná ar bhóiceáil uaibhreacht ag soláthar clú,
Mo thrua gach éinne ‘tá ar thuairisc féile,
Níl uaimse ar aon chur mar gheall sa tír,
Ach mo chrainnín aonair mo shruth is m’éinín
‘S mo thig beag aerach sa ghleann seo thíos.
http://www.padraig.de/MoThig/mothig.html