An Ghaeilge

What the DUP have done….

Concubhar on February 17, 2017, 9:11 am

| Readers 3577

I attended a meeting in Belfast on Monday night, no ordinary gathering either. It was a meeting called by Finance Minister and Sinn Féin candidate Mairtín Ó Muilleoir to facilitate a conversation between the Irish language community about the current political situation and the threat it poses and/or the opportunity it presents. Irish language activists from throughout the six counties showed up at the Cultúrlann on the Falls Road for the event. It had been a long time since …

The Irish language hasn’t gone away you know

Concubhar on January 11, 2017, 8:58 am

| Readers 2321

I’m back at work though suffering with a cold, flu or ‘man-flu’. I don’t like feeling congested at the best of times. Being back at work at the start of a cold and wet January doesn’t brighten my mood. This is all put in perspective by Martin McGuinness who has serious health issues, it seems. I wish him a speedy recovery. Nara fada go raibh tú ar do shean léim! In the light of his …

Acht na Gaeilge: Ciall cheannaigh….bought sense better than taught sense

Concubhar on February 10, 2015, 10:23 am

| Readers 759

In welcoming the publication of proposals for an Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland, it’s important to remember the old Irish sean-fhocal, Ciall cheannaigh níos fearr ná an dá chiall a mhúintear. Roughly translated, sense paid for (by bitter experience) is better than two attempts to teach sense. A pre-publication of the proposals – inspired leaking – in the Irish News this morning gives us a heads up on the main proposals – and these are likely to fuel the fevered …

Hoist on his own petard……

Concubhar on February 10, 2015, 8:12 am

| Readers 1380

Curious, wasn’t it? Nelson McCausland’s choice of language to highlight his ‘concern’ over a letter sent to primary school principals throughout Northern Ireland, inviting them to consider including an Irish language study programme in the school curriculum. According to Nelson, this was another effort by Sinn Féin to “weaponise” the Irish language and to use it as a tool, it seems, to entice unionists to be assimilated within an Irish identity. Apart from the fact that the letter was sent …

The Irish language belongs to us all, not just to Sinn Féin

Concubhar on November 11, 2014, 12:18 pm

| Readers 2797

It must be very tempting in this current highly charged atmosphere to convert any turn of events into an attack on Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams. And God knows the party does provide the material for onslaughts. However the recent ill-informed and ignorant ‘Curry My Yoghurt’ remarks of Gregory Campbell, and the subsequent farce of barring him from speaking in the Assembly for a day he was due to be in Westminster, doesn’t seem to me to be a …