Is féidir an bun-leagan a léamh as Gaeilge anseo. 

AS THE GOVERNMENT finalises the Budget provisions due to be published soon, they received a strong message from thousands of Irish speakers, Irish speakers and Irish language activists from all over the country in one of the largest Irish language protests ever in the capital today.

Not since 2014 has there been such a large march by Irish people in the centre of Dublin, a protest that began at Parnell Square and ended on Molesworth Street in front of the gates of Leinster House.

While the protesters and speakers had strong demands to make from the stage, the event was also a celebration of the vitality of the language movement in the country at the moment with live music from such talented groups as Huartán, Ispíní na hÉireann, Breandán Ó Beaglaoich and Niamh Ní Dhubhgháin.

Niamh and other singers delivered one of the main messages of the day with their song, an Irish-language version of Killeagh by Kingfishr, which demands housing rights for young people in the Gaeltacht who feel they have no future in their own areas due to a shortage of houses and bureaucratic obstacles to seeking planning permission.

Accompanying Niamh was Adhna Ní Bhraonáin from the campaign group Bánú and her message in a speech she gave to the crowd was also blunt as she spoke about the threat to the richness of language, culture and music due to the lack of housing provision for herself and her generation:

Young people are being compelled to leave because they cannot find homes in their own communities. Without homes, there can be no communities and without Gaeltacht communities, the language will not survive. This is not just a housing crisis – it is a crisis for the future of the Gaeltacht and our own language.

There was a strong focus on youth during the protest with groups from all over the country taking part, parents with their children, primary, secondary and third level students, youth clubs and young people with drums, other musical instruments and flares that they released to send red and white smoke into the air in front of the General Post Office.

There were also young speakers on stage as they emphasised education. According to Eibhlín Ní Bhroin, a fifth year student at Gaelcholáiste de HÍde in Tallaght, her heart was in Irish since she began her journey of Irish-medium education in 2013 but there were also many difficulties.

I am studying biology for the A Level but there is no Irish textbook for the subject, my teacher has to translate the text in the English school book into Irish. Not only that but there are difficulties in employing teachers who speak Irish to teach the various subjects.

Ronán Ó hIcí, a law student at University College Dublin, explained that there were not enough third-level courses through Irish to ensure that the Government could achieve the target of 20% of new recruits in the State System by 2030. He also said that the system had failed the more than 50,000 students who are exempted from Irish in the education system as it leaves them with no choice but to give up the language. He suggested that the European Framework of Reference be used to help more students continue to use Irish.

The crowd stretched as far as the eye could see from the stage on Moleswordh Street in front of Leinster House. Concubhar Ó Liatháin Concubhar Ó Liatháin

Speaking from the platform, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, President of Conradh na Gaeilge, the organisers of the protest, said that governments in both jurisdictions on the island had never given the Irish language its rightful place.

The vision of the Irish language as set out in the Constitution, or as promised in the Good Friday Agreement, has never been realised. We have been left in the half-penny position time and time again, in terms of education, in terms of funding and in terms of language legislation.

He demanded that the Government change that tune and said that the Irish would take to the streets again and again until they had a fair deal.

He raised the issue of funding for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht and pointed out that there had been a 45% reduction in the value of funding received by Foras na Gaeilge, the cross-border language institute, this year compared to 2004. He said that only 0.1% of State expenditure was going to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht.

There was also a speaker from Wales, Heulyn Rees, Chief Executive of Menter Caerdydd, who expressed the solidarity of that country’s language movement with the movement in Ireland.

The number of young people who came out to protest was remarkable and I was very impressed. We have ambitious targets in Wales for 40% of pupils to be learning through the medium of Welsh by 2050 – the test is, in Wales and Ireland, what the plan is to achieve that.

It is a testament to the international interest being shown in the story of the language in Ireland that there was a crew from New Zealand covering the march. Organisers estimate that over 25,000 people attended the march. It was certainly the largest Irish-language march in the capital.

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