(Seo alt ónár bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is féidir an bunleagan as Gaeilge a léamh anseo)

IT IS THE season of the summer colleges and thousands of teenagers are travelling to the Gaeltacht from every corner of the country to learn Irish, take part in fun activities and go to the céilís in the evenings.

Next week a group will be travelling to the Gaeltacht too – but rather than heading west to Connemara or south to Corca Dhuibhne, they will be going to the International Summer School in the Gaeltacht at University College Dublin. The centre is known as the UCD World Centre for Language and Culture – or simply as Gaeltacht UCD.

The International Summer School has been running since 2017 and has been growing ever since, and this year it is bigger than ever. More than eighty participants will attend the week of classes and other activities in this urban university Gaeltacht when it gets underway on Monday morning.

It is Clár Ní Bhuachalla who runs An Ghaeltacht, and she gave an insight into the international – and local – appeal of the Gaeltacht at the university.

“84 people are registered for this year’s school, from this country, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany and a good number of diaspora from Birmingham, Coventry and London in England,” she said. “Some UCD staff members are joining us as well.”

The reason Gaeltacht UCD was established was that the university authorities wanted to extend a warm welcome to the wider community onto the campus and to play a greater role in public life.

“We wanted to open our services and the university campus to the community and, of course, UCD’s Gaeltacht falls under the ‘Global Engagement’ unit, so providing a service to the community abroad as well,” said Ní Bhuachalla.

There was also an aspect to it in that An Ghaeltacht reflects one of the university’s working themes – Irish roots, global reach – and that dimension is clear in the backgrounds of the people attending An Ghaeltacht this year and in previous years.
This year’s brochure carries testimonials from participants from Ireland and England, from Canada, the Netherlands, Germany and New Zealand.

An added advantage the university has is that high-quality accommodation is available on campus at a reasonable price.

While there will be Irish language classes across five levels – from the complete beginner (A1) to the student looking to polish their accuracy (C1) – there will also be a wide range of other activities and entertainment in the afternoons and evenings.  These levels are part of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the courses will be given by tutors from the city centre based language school, Gaelchultúr.

Participants will have the chance to learn bodhrán skills and there will also be a workshop in Irish dancing. Author Ray Mac Mánas, who wrote the biography of Mary McAleese, will be running singing workshops, and there will be a music session with Tristan Rosenstock and Éire Ní Fhoghlú. A table quiz will also be held to give this international gathering the chance to run their own version of ‘Corn an Domhain’ – the World Cup.

A series of talks is also being held with guests including the Irish Language Commissioner for Northern Ireland, Pól Deeds; the Irish language head of Coimisiún na Meán, Muiris Ó Fiannachta; Professor Neasa Ní Chiaráin from Trinity College Dublin, who will speak on technology and Irish; and Professor Aoife Whelan from UCD itself, who will give a talk on filmmaking and Irish. Yoga teacher and writer Ciarán Mac Fhearghusa will also be teaching yoga classes through Irish.

An Ghaeltacht at UCD is more than just the International Summer School – a residential scheme for students runs there throughout the academic year, in which Irish is the language of communication for participants who are accommodated there. Various other activities and courses also take place throughout the year.

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

 This article was originally written in the reporter’s native Irish and has been translated to English here. AI was used as part of the translation process before final edits.