Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Irish-Language Cultural Communities

1995; Irish American Cultural Institute; Volume: 30; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/eir.1995.0046

1550-5162

James J. Blake,

Irish and British Studies

TUARSCÁIL AR THEANGA: LANGUAGE REPORT IRISH-LANGUAGE CULTURAL COMMUNITIES JAMES J. BLAKE in attempts to compensate for the absence of a naturally thriving Irish-speaking community throughout Ireland, various groups are working to substitute cultural movements for normally developed, cohesive neighborhoods found only in the scattered Gaeltachtaí. These cultural movements have been selected and grouped here into three types of activity: Wrst, cultural and social eVorts to establish periodic intensely focused Irish-language events; second, active programs to encourage speaking Irish in public within already existing communities; and, Wnally, eVorts to create theatrical performances in Irish which, by their very nature, demand group audiences. The eVectiveness of these three programs depends on the energy, and often the funding, of dedicated individual volunteers. If normal Irishlanguage community structures were established by the mainstream institutions —the churches, the states, and the media—in both parts of Ireland, then the work of these volunteers would prove even more impressive than their current successes. The most long-lived institutional Irish-language event in the Republic of Ireland is the Oireachtas. This cultural celebration must be distinguished, of course, from the central parliamentary body of the twenty-six county state in Dublin which also carries the same title. The Irish-language cultural festival, An tOireachtas, takes place annually around the time of the Celtic feast of Samhain. This past year it was held for ten days from October 28 to November 6, 1994. The festival attracts visitors from all the Gaeltachtaí and from among the active Irish speakers in all parts of the island. In 1994, the Oireachtas in Rinn na Déise, the tiny Irish-speaking district in County Waterford, was typical of those held in previous years. For ten busy days An Rinn reveled in music, dance, group set-dancing, singing, and crafts competitions as well as concerts, sporting events, tours, a fashion show, plays, and the late evening informal gatherings called Club na Féile. IRISH-LANGUAGE CULTURAL COMMUNITIES 162 The literary competitions were particularly notable; they have consistently had a pronounced inXuence on every type of writing in Irish, Wction and non-Wction. The types of Irish language literary creativity can be inferred from the following group of awards here selected from among the forty-Wve literary competitions of An tOireachtas. Liam Mac Uistín, a full-time writer from Dublin, won two Wction prizes. His short novel An Cónralonga, about the people who escaped from the Great Hunger of 1847 to the United States, was awarded a £1000 prize. Mac Uistín was also awarded a second £1000 prize for a novel for teenagers, and he has written a number of previously published novels for young readers. Colm Breatnach won a £1000 prize for a collection of his poetry. The literary awards included well-known as well as new voices. Seán Ó Siadhail and the publisher of Cló Iar-Chonnachta, Micheál Ó Conghaile, won prizes for short stories. Learaí Ó Finneadha and Joe Steve Ó Neachtain won prizes for collections of poetry written in traditional Irish-Gaelic styles. Two prizes were awarded to the poet Biddy Jenkinson, one for a drama and a second prize for a short radio play. The Oireachtas competitions have increasingly become a source of encouragement for the development of sophisticated modern media. Proinsias Mac Aonghusa was awarded a £1000 prize for the high quality of his journalism. Seán Ó Tuairisc was awarded a £1000 prize for the general high quality of his broadcast journalism, speciWcally for his work reporting the evening news in Irish on Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), and as a presenter on Network 2TV of the weekly program Cúrsaí. Garrett Keough, the actor, won a £1000 prize for a television script, and, interestingly, Greg Ó Braonáin, an American Irish-speaker originally from New Jersey, won third prize. Colm Dubh Ó Méalóid and Séamus Mac Dháibheíd won prizes for videos. A group of teenagers who call themselves Na hOirWdigh and who are from Palmerstown, Dublin, won the song competition for a tune entitled “Saor leis an nGaoth.” Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin also won a prize for a new song. She has also recently issued through Gael...