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(This article is produced by our Gaeltacht team. You can read an English version of this piece here)
GALWAY WEST IS one of the largest constituencies in the country and home to Connemara, the largest Gaeltacht community in Ireland – and so it might be assumed that Irish is an important issue and that every election candidate would be fluent in the language.
But the full picture is considerably more complex than that.
Of the 17 candidates in contention in the byelection, only three say they are sufficiently fluent in Irish to take part in a live debate on the likes of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta or TG4.
A handful of others are willing to do shorter interviews on RTÉ RnaG and among those who have appeared on Adhmhaidin to date are Orla Nugent of Aontú, who is fluent in Irish, Cillian Keane, Fianna Fáil’s nominated candidate, and Mark Lohan, Sinn Féin’s candidate.
Both Keane and Lohan have said they have Irish but are not fluent.
In a statement issued by TG4 in response to a question from The Journal, a spokesperson said the broadcaster – located in the very heart of Galway West – had no plans to broadcast a debate between the candidates.
“It is not our usual practice to do so for byelections, regardless of the candidates’ ability in Irish, and that is the position on this occasion.”
Senator Seán Kyne, running for Fine Gael, and Social Democrats candidate Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich are the two other candidates with fluent Irish.
According to the results of an opinion poll commissioned by TG4 and the Irish Times published recently, 67% of respondents indicated that it would make no difference whatsoever to them whether a candidate was fluent in Irish or not when casting their vote. 32% said it would influence their vote.
In the same poll, 17 political issues were listed that voters had said mattered to them as they thought about the questions troubling them most – neither Irish nor the Gaeltacht were mentioned.
That said, three of the four TDs currently representing the people of Galway West are fluent Irish speakers, and fluency in Irish and the priority she gave to the language was one of the major stories of the presidential election campaign, as former Galway West TD Catherine Connolly was elected to the highest office in the Oireachtas.
It is Seán Kyne who leads the race for the vacancy according to the TG4/Irish Times poll – even if the margin is the slimmest possible, just 1% – and he was strongly critical of RTÉ’s decision not to hold an Irish-language debate during the campaign.
“Galway West is home to the largest Gaeltacht area in the country,” he said in a strongly worded statement after RTÉ published the schedule of debates to be broadcast during the byelection campaign,” he said.
“It is an integral part of this constituency – if not the most important part of all.
“We are proud of our heritage and of keeping the language alive. Every effort must be made to support this.
“RTÉ has clear obligations under the Broadcasting Act to promote and create Irish language content. If they are not aware of that, the clue is in the name itself – Raidio Teilifís Éireann. They are Ireland’s public service broadcaster.”
Speaking to The Journal, Cillian Keane said it was “very important” that anyone representing this constituency as a TD would have a strong interest in the language.
“I know I am not a fluent Irish speaker but I have always had an interest in the language,” he said, indicating that a lack of time and opportunities had worked against him, as it had for many other students.
“I would have no hesitation – if I were standing in another Dáil election, it would be my intention to be considerably stronger on the Irish language.”
He also said it would be important for a candidate to be able or willing to use whatever Irish they had when speaking with people.
Asked whether he would be comfortable taking part in an Irish-language debate, he said: “I don’t know if I would be comfortable but I would do my best.”
A spokesperson on behalf of Noel Thomas, the Independent Ireland candidate who sits in second place according to the TG4/Irish Times poll, said he had a love of Irish and that the importance of “promoting the language is enormous”.
“As you know, Noel is not an Irish speaker – I understand he always wanted to learn the language and when the question was put to him while taking part in The Week in Politics on RTÉ, he said that while he did not speak Irish, for as long as he was helping people in the Gaeltacht during his twelve years as a councillor, the issue was never raised with him,” said the spokesperson.
Among the issues which have arisen is Sinn Féin’s decision to select Mark Lohan to carry the party’s banner in the Galway West byelection.
Mairéad Farrell, the party’s TD for Galway West, had said that Lohan did not have fluent Irish, but subsequently, when Mary Lou McDonald was being interviewed on RTÉ, the party leader said he had Irish and would take part in debates.
Speaking on last Friday’s Adhmhaidin, RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta’s flagship morning news programme, Lohan said it had been “clear from the outset” that he was not a fluent Irish speaker and had not been raised through Irish. “I make the effort,” he said.
There is internal tension within Sinn Féin in Galway West regarding the vote taken at the party’s convention to select Lohan over two other candidates with Irish whose names were before the members. The trade union official barely managed to win that vote – there were only three votes between him and Kevin O’Hara in second place.
Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich, a native Irish speaker who grew up in Leitir Móir in the Oileáin district, is standing for the Social Democrats and she acknowledged that questions on issues such as housing and the cost of living were being put to her in Connemara.
“For me personally, Irish could perhaps make the difference between Number 1 and Number 2 for someone if there are two good candidates on the cost of living or whatever is troubling them.”
She also said that voters have more than one issue concerning them and that a range of factors come into play. “I hear it on the doorsteps – it matters to people, even to people without Irish, that the TDs for Galway West and the Gaeltacht would have Irish.”
It is a question of representation, she said.
Catherine Connolly attracted considerable attention for her personal efforts to relearn Irish at the beginning of her political career, and she raised the language issue frequently during the presidential election campaign.
Now that she is in Áras an Uachtaráin, independent candidate Sheila Garrity – a woman who played a central role in various campaigns on Connolly’s behalf – is pressing forward, hoping a left-wing candidate will be elected.
“The issues coming to the fore are the cost of living, the cost of living and the cost of living,” she told The Journal. “Whether it’s in Galway city or out in Connemara, people are struggling to put fuel in the car and heat the house – those are the questions we are hearing.”
Garrity did not learn Irish at school growing up as she was raised in Canada by Irish parents. She has made many attempts over the years while working and living in Galway – attending classes, listening to podcasts and using apps.
“I would say I am on a journey with regard to Irish – I am inspired and I try again and I was certainly inspired during the presidential campaign,” she said.
She said, however, that while she understood people speaking Irish, she was not confident speaking it herself. She said their campaign materials were bilingual.
She gave an overview of the work she had been doing in Connemara in the field of education in recent years and the efforts she makes in the course of that work on behalf of Irish.
“I have demonstrated a commitment to Irish even though I am not a speaker -I understand its place and I recognise that it is a fragile language and that Government policies say all the right things about Irish but do not deliver on them.”
Among the other candidates standing in Galway West are Helen Ogbu for the Labour Party, Orla Nugent for Aontú, Thomas Welby (Independent), Mike Cubbard (Independent), Niall Murphy of the Green Party, Denman Rooke of People Before Profit, AJ Cahill (Ireland’s Community Party), Michael Ryan (Independent), Patrick Feeney (Independent) and John O’Leary (Independent).
Denman Rooke of People Before Profit said that he had been raised outside Ireland and didn’t have an exposure to Ireland. “After moving to Galway for work in 2017, I took courses at Conradh na Gaeilge, but I’m still very much a beginner and wouldn’t be conversational.,” he said.
“But I am determined to learn it, not just because of its importance to the area politically.
“I’ve also recently been inspired by Catherine Connolly’s learning of it later in life as well.”
We reached out to Labour Party candidate Helen Ogbu but did not receive a response before publication.
Polling stations will be open between 7am and 10pm on Friday, 22 May.
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.
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