Samhain Shona Daoibh
The sun has set, the bonfires are being lit, and the Feis Shamhna is upon us: the nocturnal festival of Samhain marking the commencement of the newContinue Reading
Category: The Irish Language – An Ghaeilge
The Irish Famine Of 1925
These are the people, the right-wing Nationalist forces, that initiated and won the counter-revolutionary civil war of 1921-23 and thisContinue Reading
Ireland Of The Apes
Are we really so enslaved to our post-colonial neuroses, so malformed by centuries of external domination, that even after ninety years ofContinue Reading
Native American Day
Yesterday was Columbus Day in the United States, the latterly Italian-American festival commemorating the “discovery” of the Americas by theContinue Reading
Tuairisc
A busy weekend behind me and an even busier week ahead so I haven’t had much time to discuss Tuairisc,Continue Reading
The Scandal Of The 1916 Battlefield Quarter
As Dublin City Council continues to debate and prevaricate over saving what is left of the capital’s 1916 Battlefield QuarterContinue Reading
The Problem With Irish? Not Enough Politics!
There is a great article over on Diaga on the importance of persecuted communities with distinct languages and cultures achievingContinue Reading
The Common Struggle
Just time to highlight three articles that deserve your attention. The first is “10 Reasons Why Irish Is An AbsolutelyContinue Reading
The Embarrassment Of Being Irish
So after eighteen years of an online presence our self-proclaimed “national public service broadcaster”, RTÉ, has finally got around toContinue Reading
An Leabhar Beag Gorm, The Little Blue Book
Last week Wilson McLeod took to the website Bella Caledonia to criticise the glaring absence of the native Scottish (Gaelic)Continue Reading
The Irrational Nature Of The Anti-Irish Bigots
Have some indigenous Gaelic moles crept into the hallowed Hibernophobe halls of Independent House, publishers of the Indo stable of newspapers? A coupleContinue Reading
Irish-Medium Education Overcoming The Odds
Over the last decade the devolved government in Wales, with near cross-party unanimity, has used its growing powers over educationContinue Reading
Second Spoken Languages Of Contemporary Europe
Interesting charts from the folk at (the anglocentric) Move Hub: “This map shows the second most common first language inContinue Reading
The Irish Republic
I remember writing an essay many years ago where I stated that the Irish revolution was the making of Ireland’sContinue Reading
No Speak The Irish!
As if the precarious position of Irish-speaking citizens and communities in Ireland was not difficult enough living under the authorityContinue Reading
Irish Ways And Irish Laws
It seems that even the most reactionary dung-hill can produce the odd progressive rose. Here is Clare Cullen in theContinue Reading
Fingal Irish
I’ve discussed before the truly excellent blog Dublin Gaelic which discusses the history of the Irish language in theContinue Reading
No Time For Irish – Government Policy In Ireland
A few weeks ago the appointment of two ministers by the government of Ireland with responsibilities directly effecting the interestsContinue Reading
Hold Your Tongue
Karen Matheson, the lead vocalist with the popular Scottish folk band Capercaillie, recounts something that was once very familiar to speakersContinue Reading
Reclaiming The Past And The Present
Some interesting thoughts on translation and the Irish language from the Cork-based poet Louis de Paor in an interview withContinue Reading
Festival Interceltique 2014
Sometimes we need reminding that – whatever our origins – we are not just Irish but Celts too, one ofContinue Reading
Festival Of Lúgh
It’s a rather overcast and muggy day in BÁC but I’ve still followed my own little traditions for Lúghnasa, theContinue Reading
AN SIONNACH FIONN 