Tá mé ag tabhairt cabhair do cara liom atá ag léamh an Dialann seo (Béarla le píosai Gaeilge).
Luckily I'm fairly ancient, so I have no problem with séimhiú or do thugas etc - but the spelling is full of extra letters which were gone even by my time

Led' thoil, saineolaithe! ........

1. Abhaile agus a' leighin na draoi mór agus beag. ???? ????

2. A' 7.30 ceann B. ann .... ?ceard is brí le "ceann"? =tháinig?

3. Déir se damhsa do béid ag sgríobhtha ... he says (damhsa = to me?) .... do béid = ???? do bhéadh siad

4. caint mór iris .... iris = arís?

5. (sgriobh. abran 28 ad) .... ?written 28th April (I've seen 28ad on tombs - = 28ú?

le gach dea-ghuí eadaoin

Are you confident of your transliteration?
Can you give us fuller sentences?

As gur dialann atá ann tá seans gur gearr-scríobh pearsanta cuid dhó.

Well, you said yoiu had no problem with Séimhiú, but, eg "28ad" is clearly "28adh", as the word written (misspelled?) "ochtú" today was traditionally written ochtmhadh. That accounts for #5.

Part of the trouble with a book "partly in Irish" is that it is that the author may be English-first. Some of these things may not be quite right.

#1: Abhaile agus a' leighin na draoi mór agus beag. Off home and studying the great and lesser-known poets?? Just a guess, assuming it might be "Ag léigheann na ndraoi mór agus beag"?

#2: A' 7.30 ceann B. ann. Well "ceann" means "head" or "one", but without greater context I don't know what it means there.

#3. Déir se damhsa do béid ag sgríobhtha. Once again this doesn't have to be right - it is a book written mainly in English by someone who may not have known Irish properly. Sgríobhtha is not a verbal noun. I assume this means "he says the dance is being written" in pidgin Irish. Béid - probably béidh in your book - is probably a mistake for bheith, but the whole thing is wrong.

#4. caint mór iris - well, yes, irís is the pronunciation of arís...

Joseph Mary Plunkett was one of the leaders of the 1916 rising, and learning Irish from another: Tomás Mac Donagh.

It's Joseph Mary Plunkett of 1916 fame -it's written in 1915. The English (about 2/3) is also in note form, by and large, so no fuller sentences. His Irish is quite good, actually, but his spelling a bit erratic, or maybe the printing. And he has a few obvious "botúin".

quote"Are you confident of your transliteration?" just checked it, pretty much - I've not made any corrections to his text, just changed "." to h

Corkirish - I don't have a problem switching from "." to "h" and back - been doing it for years!
He (or the printer of the text more likely) has some obvious "." left out
e.g. he has "breag" and "breagh" where the context is , I think "breá" today ... sgéal deas breag.

#1. thanks for that - I didn't think of "poet" for "draoi" and had no idea for "leighin"

#2. later on he has "Ceann B. ag 5." it must be something like "tháinig" I feel

#3. it's "béid" in the book - not "béidh" maybe that's a printer's error?
(is there an old form of the verb ending in "d" - I have a vague idea I once heard "rachad" for "will go" or "would go")
.. I think "damhsa" is "domsa" so the sentence means something like "he told me to be writing" or "he told me they would be writing"

Is rud an-suimiúil domsa bheith ag aistrigh an Dialann seo, ach tá sé deacair! GRMA as a scríobh sibh.

eadaoin

I've read a bit ahead, and it looks as if "ceann B." is a code-name he has for someone - so scrub #2.

eadaoin

I think "damhsa" is "domsa" so the sentence means something like "he told me to be writing" or "he told me they would be writing"
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Well that makes more sense. But deir sé domhsa do bheith ag sgríobh would be the correct form, not sgríobhtha.

But would anyone say "Deir se domhsa a bheith ag scríobh"? Surely, it would be "liomsa"?

A friend of mine who has been learning Irish for a while now and used to say things like "Dúirt sé chugam go raibh . . . ", clearly calquing English "He said TO me" and using the preposition chun. Perhaps "deir sé domhsa" is a similar mistake; domhsa - to me?

Yes, sorry - níl ach foghlamóir atá ionam. Deir sé liomsa. I keep forgetting it is "abair liom; inis dom". So the Irish in this book is not perfect, and not really worth slogging through, Eadaoin.

Corkirish
I'm not doing it for the Irish in it, and I'm not doing it for me, I'm doing it for someone who needs the translation -

Tá an leabhar é féin thar a bheith suimiúil - Ta Joseph sa Ghearmáin i 1915, agus tá sé ag buail le priosúnaigh ó Éire agus le Casement etc etc, agus ag déanamh cur-síos ar eachtraí an Céad Cogadh Domhanda.
Ag an am sin, there was some effort to get Irish POWs to change sides ....

apart from the content, I'd prefer to learn my Irish through more modern stuff .. i lathair na huaire, tá an rang ag léamh "An Béal Bocht" - an-ghreannmhar!

eadaoin