DESPITE A UNIVERSAL love for the Irish language, there are many Irish people that have a mixed relationship with their native tongue.

Filmmaker and journalist Caitriona Ní Chadhain’s short documentary Grá & Eagla (Love & Fear) explores how despite the positive attitude towards the Irish language, many native Irish can be fearful or intimidated to speak it.

Following the efforts of comedian Áine Gallagher attempting to perform a standup show in Irish, Ní Chadhain (herself an Irish speaker) says the documentary shows how much Irish people can stop themselves from interacting more with the native language.

“She [Áine] found it quite intimidating initially, to do a full show as Gaeilge,” Ní Chadhain says.

And that was interesting to see because it kind of makes you realise that there is this fear that a lot of Irish people feel towards the language…and a fear of making mistakes.

Grá and Eagla will be playing at the Tá Gaeilge Agat event on 21 November. For more information on the film, click here.

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