Tag Archives: irish language

MACDARA Ó Conaola is a man with a vision. Recently appointed  Language Planning Officer for Ennis he believes the county capital has the potential to become a bilingual town within the next decade. He feels Ennis and Clare has the capacity to become a “beacon” to the rest of the country in changing how people view Irish, a language which, he laments, is currently “hanging by a thread”. Speaking to The Clare Champion recently MacDara talks about, amongst other topics, his work in Ennis, infectious passion for the Irish language, involvement with the hit movie The Banshees of Inisherin and love of music. Growing up on Inis Oírr completely bilingually MacDara says he was “very fortunate” in his upbringing. However he acknowledges, that for others, there can be a “negative attitude” towards Irish. This is something he wants to counteract, urging people to embrace the language in whatever little way they can and encouraging younger generations to engage. He tells …

SCHOOLS  all over the country will have the opportunity to receive radio production training and enter their programmes into a national competition being organised as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge 2014 with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Seachtain na Gaeilge, continues until March 17 and there are thousands of events planned in Ireland and around the world to celebrate the Irish language and culture. Schools play an integral part in Seachtain na Gaeilge and this series of radio production workshops brings the festival to students throughout Ireland and gives them an opportunity to use Irish in a practical and exciting way. Groups of students are asked to enter a 30 minute Irish language radio show, which is open to four levels: 3-4th Class, 5-6th Class, 1-3rd Year and 4-6th Year. The winning entries in each category will receive a cash prize of €150, as well as airing on Raidió Rí-Rá, the Irish language radio station for young …

A TULLA woman, is leading a research study looking at new speakers in a multilingual Europe and one of the focus sites of the study is County Clare. Bernie O’Rourke, who is based in Scotland and is a reader in Sociolinguistics at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh is co-ordinating this EU-funded COST project. Originally from Tulla and a daughter of Tulla Pipe Band honoary president Michael O’Rourke, Bernie said she would classify herself as a new speaker of Irish, she have been intrigued by this growing phenomenon in the case of Irish. “I always had a strong interest in Irish, inspired very much by father’s interest in the language and his encouragement to speak it. I had also often heard my mother talking about her grandparents from West Clare who were Irish speakers. I also had a very inspirational Irish teacher in Tulla, Sr Eileen Callinan,” she said. The project involves researchers from 17 European countries and is aimed at finding out …