The Gaelic League and Douglas Hyde

1. The Gaelic League and Douglas Hyde • Hyde resigned as a consequence (1915). • League members took a prominent part in the Rising of 1916, and in the growth of Sinn Fein and the IRA. • The Gaelic League was declared an illegal organisation in Sept 1919. • The League continues to exist today.

2. Gaelic league in North America In 1902, there were approx 42 branches of the Gaelic league in Canada and the US.

3. Gaelic league: language and separatism • It is not surprising that the Gaelic League under the leadership of Douglas Hyde became a nationalist force (although he distanced himself from the movement) and that it contributed significantly to a renewed separatist ideology, which led eventually to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.

4. The Gaelic league • The Irish language cause, and the cause of political separatism became for a while almost indistinguishable, and consequently, in the constitution of Saorstat Eireann (Irish Free State), Irish is proclaimed as the ‘National language of the Irish Free State. • This would be reinforced in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.

5. Irish and the State • One of the great successes of the League was to ensure that the Irish language became integrated into the new fledgling State in 1922. • In the early years of the Free State, a steady increase in the use of Irish took place in the public domain.

6. Irish and the State • Irish was made an official language, Irish signage was universally posted, the new Irish coins, stamps, and banknotes employed Irish. • The Gaeltacht was given economic assitance. A new Ministry was created to attend to its needs.

7. Coins and stamp of the Irish Free State 1920s

8. Irish and the State • By 1925, Irish had been made compulsory for admission to employment in the Civil Service. • In 1945, competence in Irish became part of the assessment for advancement within the Public Service Sector. (This lasted until c1975). • In this sense, Irish has a more prominent place in the public service than in the community at large.

9. Irish and the State • From the 1930s until recent decades, a good proportion of the internal business of the Public Sector was conducted in Irish. • This eventually had a knock-on effect by creating a modern usage used in broadcasting, publishing and other official domains. • Nevertheless, this has had a small impact on the public at large.

10. Education-Oideachas • From the late 19th century, Irish had been gaining recognition as a subject in primary and secondary education. Although in the 1830s Irish was forbidden in schools. • The teaching of Irish was permitted from 1879 as an extra-curricular subject (and then from 1900 as an optional subject). • In 1904, a ‘bilingual programme’ was authorized for schools in Irish-speaking communities.

11. Education • This allowed Irish to be taught as part of the curriculum and also used as a medium of instruction for other subjects. (but with few students). • By 1913, a qualification in Irish was obligatory for matriculation in the national University of Ireland. • This led to its becoming almost universally a subject in Roman Catholic secondary schools.

12. Education • By 1925, before the Irish Free State had proclaimed its new regulations, Irish was being taught in 266 of the 278 recognized secondary schools (not free). • Already the Free State had decided that Irish was to be taught in all primary schools. • By 1934 Irish was compulsory for the leaving certificate.

13. Education in Irish • Here we are witnessing the teaching of Irish as a ‘subject’ to mainly non-Irish speaking high-school students. • In addition to its being taught as a subject, there was also a determined effort by the State to promote Irish as a medium of instruction. • Such attempts in the 1920s faced problems with untrained teachers.

14. Education in Irish-a failure in methodology • Irish as a sole means of instruction had some success in the early 1940s but gradually faced growing opposition from parents. • 1960s-‘the detrimental effects of excessive emphasis on a second language’. • There was a backlash in that period, because of the inefficient methodolgies used to teach Irish.

15. The Goal? • By the time of the Free State in 1921, the number of fluent speakers had fallen to approximately 250,000. • The goal of restoring the Irish language (‘Ireland nor merely free, but Gaelic as well, not merely Gaelic, but free as well;- Patrick Pearse).

16. The Goal • Planning for Irish during the first 80 years of independence was not very well thought out- there was little in the way of theoretical material available from socio-linguists for example. • How to resuscitate a language which 90% of the population had ceased to speak before national independence (FreeState).

17. The crisis in Irish language education • By the mid 1950s, there was considerable parental resistance to Irish-medium education. • They considered that the education of their children was being obstructed by being taught in a language they did not know well enough. • They also did not see such an education as leading to specific jobs. • Unless they were in the minority who could afford secondary education.

18. The crisis in Irish language education • Although the teaching would remain, and does remain as a subject in all state-funded schools, Irish-medium education has now reemerged (since the 1980s) in state-supported voluntary schools. • In other words, Irish-medium occurs mainly in special schools.

19. The turn-around • A more scientific-based approach to language teaching became the norm from c1980, when Irish-medium education especially was seen as parental choice. • The rules about passing exams in Irish for public service jobs were modified considerably. • Instead of being unpopular, Irish gradually changed its status in the public eye.

20. The Lure of the Gaeltacht

21. In the Gaeltacht • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U0v9LHgyRY • Udaras na Gaeltachta • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_07-ApFV0w&feature=related

22. UdarasnaGaeltachta • ÚdarásnaGaeltachtaabbreviated ÚnaG, is a regional state agency which is responsible for the economic, social and cultural development of Irish-speaking regions of Ireland. Its stated purpose is to strengthen the Gaeltacht communities, to increase the quality of life of its community members and facilitate the preservation and extension of the Irish language as the principal language of the region.

23. UdarasnaGaeltachta • It was originally established in 1980 under the Údarás na Gaeltachta Act, 1979, superseding its predecessor Gaeltarra Eireann which had been established in 1957 under the Gaeltacht Industries Act of the same year.

24. UdarasnaGaeltachta

25. ForasnaGaeilge • Foras na Gaeilge, the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland, was founded on the second day of December 1999. In the Good Friday Agreement, it was stated that a North/South Implementation body be set up to promote both the Irish language and the Ulster Scots language.

26. ForasnaGaeilge • Under the auspices of this body, ForasnaGaeilge will carry out all the designated responsibilities regarding the Irish language. This entails facilitating and encouraging the speaking and writing of Irish in the public and private arena in the Republic of Ireland, and in North of Ireland where there is appropriate demand, in the context of part three of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

27. ForasnaGaeilge • Funding Irish language organizations and activities • Promotion of the Irish language (incl. advertising, competitions, events and sponsorships) • Publication of guides and resource material • Sponsorship of bilingual events • Workshops and training seminars • Launches and exhibitions • Production distribution and promotion of Irish language and Irish-interest books. • Formulation of new terminology for the Irish language and the compilation and publication of new Irish language dictionaries. • Supporting Irish language education

28. Gaelscoileanna • GAELSCOILEANNA TEO., a national, voluntary organisation  supporting the development of Irish-medium schools at primary and at post-primary level was founded in 1973.  The organisation offers advice, encouragement and practical support to the public, or to members of the public wishing to set up schools and operates according to public demand.

29. Gaelscoileanna • A gaelscoil (plural: gaelscoileanna) is an Irish-medium primary school in Ireland, of a sort found outside the traditionally Irish speaking regions, especially in urban areas. • Students in the gaelscoileanna acquire the Irish language through language immersion, though they study the standard curriculum. Gaelscoileanna, unlike mainstream schools, have the reputation of producing competent Irish-language speakers.

30. Gaelscoileanna • English-medium schools, in contrast, produce relatively few fluent Irish speakers, despite the Irish language being an obligatory subject in the Republic of Ireland in both primary and secondary school. This has been attributed in part to the lack of Irish-language immersion programs. The present government has promised reforms in curriculum and teaching training for Irish in English-medium schools.

31. Gaelscoileanna • In 1972 there were only 11 such schools at primary level and five at secondary level in the Republic. Now there are 172 at primary level and 39 at secondary level. When similar schools from Northern Ireland are added, there are in total 298 gaelscoileanna at primary level and 72 schools at post-primary level (gaelcholáistí).

32. Gaelscoileanna • These schools educate over 37,800 students, not counting around 4,000 children in Irish-medium preschools. There is now at least one gaelscoil in each of the 32 counties of Ireland and several in some larger towns and cities. There are only nine counties nationally that do not have a secondary level Irish-medium school.

33. Straitéis 20 Bliain - 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language • This emphasizes the importance of offering all children in primary schools in Ireland the opportunity to experience partial immersion in the formative years of primary education. It calls for primary teachers to have additional immersion classes to improve their competence in the language.

34. 20 Year Strategy (Nov 2009) • This would involve teaching some subjects such as Mathematics and Science in Irish. Such a policy, if implemented effectively, would mean that the gaelscoileanna were no longer the only means of promoting bilingualism in schoolchildren.

35. TG4 • http://www.tg4.ie/en/tg4-player/tg4-player.html

36. TG4 • RTE and the Irish government had sought to improve the availability of Irish-language programming on RTÉ services. In 1972, RTE Raideo na Gaeltachta (RnaG) was set up to provide Irish-language radio services across the country. All radio and television services provided by RTÉ provided some Irish-language programming.

37. TG4 • Launched 1996 • The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland. • A television station to be set up in the Gaeltacht regions serving the Gaeltachtand Irish speakers across the country. • It should be linked to RTÉ, but independent from both editorial and organisational points of view. • A special authority set up to run it with representatives from RTÉ, the Department of Communications, and UdarasnaGaeltachta.