I recently heard 'Tá agus é' in reply to 'Tá sé fliuch'. Is this another example of the same meanings strung together e.g. saor + in aisce / saor in aisce, with the individual and combined meaning of 'for free'?
I suppose this would make 'Tá agus é', 'It is and it is' or similar. Or am I way off the mark?

Are you sure the last word is "é"?

For instance if someone says "Ta mé tuirseach" you may answer "Ta, agus mise fosta" (=me too).
So I'd expect "Ta, agus...?" the "é" is strange here, you may expect another adjective (you may hear "ta, agus fuar") or something like that...

'Ta agus é' it is! Actually the person who said it couldn't explain it to me and said it was something he had learned in west Cork in his youth. Thats all I can add about it at the moment.

Le tuilleadh urra a chur san abairt

"Tá sé fliuch."

"Tá agus é" / "Tá, leoga"/ "D'fhéad tú sin a rá"

Ar an dóigh chéanna:

"Níl sé te."
"Níl ná é"

Yes. I have heard that. It is equivalent to "Well you can say that again."

Sármhaith! Go raibh maith agaibh a chairde.

"Tá agus é!" Another translation: "It sure is!"

Interesting, I never heard that expression.

Something *similar* I heard Peadar say on Ros na Rún:

S - "D'ól sé cuid mhaith".
P - "D'ól sin"

It's a living language. It's alive. People can say things in new ways. With new words, new phrases, new concepts and ideas. If a new phrase or idiom is noticed and deemed clever or attractive other people will take it up and use it. Think of words like nuálaí, fón póca, staighre beo, ríomhaire, anaclann and so on they didn't exist in Ó Dónaill's time. They're in use but they're not in the old dictionaries.

This morning I heard a Galway County Councillor refer to staidrimh, fuinneamh in-athnuaite, and breosla iontaise on Raidió na Gaeltachta. He said it. I and those who shared breakfast with me understood.

Those who condemn the translation of official documents to Irish are condemning the language to death. Having teams of professional translators constantly working on the language in Ireland and in Europe enriches all aspects of the language, revives and renews long-forgotten vocabulary, provides employment for good scholars, and encourages people to seriously study the language.

It gives assurance to the mother speaking Irish to her new-born that she is not alone.

The language needs to be used at all levels from the creche to the Government if it is to develop and spread.

I agree wholeheartedly, Jeacín. Tell me, please, what is 'staighre beo'?

hmm … I was talking to a person I know who was born and raised in the West Cork Gaeltacht of Múscraí (his first language is Irish) and he has never heard of "Tá agus é". I guess it's not very common.

an escalator?

Go raibh maith agat. I wouldn't have guessed that easily. De Bhaldraithe has 'staighre creasa' for that, but from what I have heard before about his inclination to neologise, he might have been the only person using it :)

I don't know from whom I first heard "staighre beo" but I like it. I think it expresses some of the excitement of the person being carried upwards by stairs that move. I wonder would "cosán beo" do as well for those pathways that carry us to the departure gate at Dublin Airport Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath.

staighre creasa = "a belt stairs" It doesn't have the same immediacy. Crios - (gs) creasa - (pl) criosanna

Some of de Bhaldraithe's terminology caught on. More did not. Native speakers have the capacity to coin their own new words -- sometimes as a joke. Long ago in a Gaeltacht village far removed from the city where I grew up an old farmer gave me the Irish for taxi: "carbad coiteann" a thugaimid ar "tacsaí" anseo. tá's a'd". I knew he was teasing me but I am still amazed at the store of songs and folklore he and his neighbours stored in their memory. I still wonder how far back it went. I am sad that their offspring were reared on Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, and Ryan Tubridy. Even Dustin.

carbad coiteann - a common chariot / a chariot held in common.

carbad coiteann - I must pass that on to a friend who is collecting phrases for the Irish Historical Dictionary.