IT’S St Patrick’s Day today when everyone feels that extra bit Irish.
However, ask most of us to string a few lines together as Gaeilge and we’d be in trouble.
Despite the prominence of Irish in our culture and education system, many people feel disconnected from the language beyond the classroom.
A lack of real-life immersion opportunities means that, for many, Gaeilge remains more of a subject than a spoken skill.
Last year, the Government announced the approval of €900,000 in funding for free Gaeltacht places for students in DEIS post-primary schools.
Over 800 scholarships will be offered to students under the DEIS Gaeltachta Scheme.
Some 26,000 students attend Gaeltachts each year and contribute an estimated €50 million annually to the economy of those regions.
Writing in The Irish Sun today, Labour Senator Nessa Cosgrove says the programme should be expanded and every child in the country should have the chance to attend the Gaeltacht.
GROW GRA FOR GAEILGE
LAST year, in a very welcome move, we saw Government funding being invested to support naíonraí outside of the Gaeltacht.
This money will help normalise Irish speaking at one end of the education system.
I would like to see this investment in language acquisition extended to include one free trip to the Gaeltacht for every secondary school student.
The cost of attending the Gaeltacht is prohibitive for many families and while 800 scholarships are offered each year to students attending DEIS schools, consideration should be given to extending this scheme, as part of the curriculum, to all students in need — rather than just those who attend a DEIS school.
People who speak both Irish and English naturally, those who live in Gaeltacht areas, or those who have had the opportunity of attending a Gaelscoil, have an advantage over much of the rest of the population.
MULTILINGUALISM BENEFITS
Multilingualism holds benefits across a whole range of human spheres — psychological, cognitive, emotional and, of course, linguistically.
The everyday use of Irish does not just involve the literal translation of words from English into Irish, it involves a whole shift of mentality, of identity.
Research has shown over many decades that multilingualism is the natural state of being. Monolingualism is a modern phenomena and is not beneficial holistically.
Most children get off to a really good start in their relationship with Gaeilge, speaking it every day at national school.
However, this seems to change in post-primary, and many people feel, despite having studied Irish in school for 13 years, that they are not good Irish speakers, and that they cannot use their Irish in public. This has to change. I love to hear Irish spoken on the streets, in the shop, or in the pub.
‘FANTASTIC GIFT’
It may not always be fluent, but to be able to hold a basic conversation and to understand others and to make oneself understood is a fantastic gift.
When I speak Irish, I naturally slip into a blend of English and Irish and I don’t see anything wrong with that. I love speaking Irish, I love exploring the possibilities of expressing thoughts and emotions through different languages. Gaeilge bhriste is better than no Gaeilge at all.
Seachtain na Gaeilge is one of my favourite times of the year, precisely because so many people throw off their inhibitions and speak Irish to the best of their abilities.
GROWING IN POPULARITY
There is definitely a resurgence in the popularity, and the trendiness, of Gaeilge at the moment. There are so many innovative TV shows and podcasts which emphasise the fun and possibilities of expanding the cúpla focal into a more comfortable relationship with our teanga.
Most emphatically, the film Kneecap has shown the potential that our native language has.
Drawing upon that energy, a number of us in Cartron, which is one of the biggest housing estates in Sligo, recently decided that we would establish an Irish language conversation group, Cartron Comhrá.
We have been meeting twice a month and we have been sharing the opportunity of improving our own and our collective levels of proficiency.
JOY NOT CHORE
Speaking Irish should be a joy, not a chore. It should be liberating, and most crucially of all, it should be normal.
To make a residential trip to the Gaeltacht, for all young people, a real possibility would not only help to enhance that normalisation, it would also give unmeasurable benefits to our youngsters.
And it would give a much needed future-proofed economic boost to our Gaeltacht regions and the families who live there, which would help to reverse the ongoing decline of our regions caused by decades of neglect and unbalanced regional development.
