(Foireann Gaeltachta The Journal a chuir an scéal seo ar fáil. Tá leagan as Gaeilge anseo.)

“LET THE IRISH language come to full bloom!” That was the call to action that was among the highlights of President Catherine Connolly’s inaugural speech as she promised that the Irish language would be to the fore during her term in Áras an Uachtaráin.

In the address she gave after being administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of Ireland, Justice Dónal O’Donnell, in front of the guests present in Saint Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle, she referred to the neglect and oppression of the Irish language over the years but said that the Irish language community and those learning the language would be to the forefront during her term.

And she said that it was the people she met while on her journey around the country and who generously shared their stories with her who encouraged her as she embarked on what was initially, she and her supporters had been told, a campaign with littler prospect of success.

She did not mince words when referring to the way in which, in her opinion, the language was suppressed and allowed to die out due to ‘the scheming of the tyrants’ and ‘lack of attention, care and understanding’.

Speaking directly to the Irish-speaking community, she referred to their daily struggle for services.

She promised that Irish would be the first working language in Áras an Uachtaráin and that it would not be “spoken quietly in the corner”.

Let us listen to all those who simply want to be recognised as Irish speakers in their own country and in honour of them and us, Irish speakers, the community and learners of Irish.

“She will be spoken with courage, poetry and music as I have heard throughout the country.”

According to the Constitution, the interests of the country must be present for this solemn occasion and that was clear from the outset, not only that the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and other members of Government, judges, TDs and Senators, Church leaders and others were there. They were there as well as the other ‘good people’, the whole crowd, who were there musically at least.

Sí Beag, Sí Mór/Little Fairy, Big Fairy, a tune composed by Toirdhealbhach Ó Cairealláin and revived by Seán Ó Riada  was the accompanying music as the President-elect of Ireland marched with her husband and a guard of honour into St. Patrick’s Hall for the inauguration ceremony would officially begin her presidential term.

Then piper Eugene Lamb played a slow air, Leaba na Sídhe/The bed of the fairies, on the ulnar pipe before taking us back to the President’s native soil with the tune ‘Galway Bay’.

Singer and harpist Síle Denvir, who hails from the Conamara Gaeltacht, a first sang ‘Ár nAthair/the Lord’s Prayer’ and then played ‘Fáinne Geal an Lae/the Banks of Lough Leane’ during another musical interlude.

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A large number of her family and friends from Galway were present at the event, including John Bhaba Jack Ó Conghaile from Inis Bhearracháin in the Islands area of ​​Connemara.

“Her father and my father were very close and this is certainly a wonderful day,” he said.

After completing her inauguration duties, her term will begin in earnest tomorrow and her first visit will be to the students and teaching staff of Gaelscoil Inse Chór before she heads to other appointments in County Meath and her home county.

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