Census shows we must rethink our approach to Irish and the Gaeltacht
Aibreán 10, 2017
There are now more ‘new speakers’ of Irish committed to the language than there are native speakers in the Gaeltacht
The 2016 Census returns, published this week, contain bad news for the Irish language, with a decline across all significant categories: daily speakers of Irish outside the education system and knowledge of and use of Irish in the Gaeltacht. The fall in the Gaeltacht is particularly dramatic – an 11 per cent drop in daily speakers outside the education system within the past five years – and provides further confirmation of the decline of Irish in its traditional heartland, a change which has been documented extensively in recent years.
Although the latest Census figures also illustrate a fall in daily speakers outside the Gaeltacht, that reduction, from 54,010 to 53,217 people, is very small (just over 1 per cent). There has also been an 0.8 per cent increase in the numbers of weekly speakers outside the education system, which probably include those who speak Irish well but lack opportunities to do so. This confirms another existing trend: that the numbers speaking Irish regularly outside the Gaeltacht, although small, are more stable than the equivalent figures from the Gaeltacht.
Research on these “new speakers” of Irish – fluent and committed speakers who were not raised with the language in the Gaeltacht – shows that some look to the Gaeltacht as the model, although it is declining, while others are attempting to create new models such as the recent Pop-Up Gaeltacht events around the country. This is a European-wide trend and is being explored by a European research network on “new speakers in a multilingual Europe”.
The network spans 28 European countries and looks at situations where minority languages (including Irish) are acquired by non-traditional means and in non-traditional settings. Researchers involved in the project have been looking at the role that “new speakers” play in the future of these languages. The project is led by Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and involves more than 28 partners from across Europe, including the National University of Ireland, Galway and the University of Limerick. In addition to Irish, other languages involved include Basque, Breton, Catalan, Galician, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh.
New speakers of Irish or other minority languages learn the language outside of the home, school, through adult-classes or other formal means. New speakers differ from simple learners in that they are committed to speaking the language on a regular basis and seeking out opportunities to use the language.
There are now more new speakers of Irish than native speakers. We have spoken at length with many such speakers from a range of backgrounds and from different parts of the country. They have different stories to tell but what they have in common is that they are deeply committed to the language. This is what makes them want to use the language and to put 13 years of school Irish into practice.
Some newcomers to the language have decided to model their Irish on traditional Gaeltacht varieties. This has sometimes been through dedicated self-study or visits to the Gaeltacht. Some new speakers idealise a traditional Gaeltacht variety and are can be critical of newer forms of “learner” Irish.
At the same time, some other new speakers see themselves as fluent Irish speakers and are less concerned with speaking with a Gaeltacht blas. Some even flaunt what they proudly refer to as “Dublin Irish”. Others still consider themselves “experts” in Irish. There are also some who lack confidence in terms of grammatical accuracy and fluency. We have seen a wide range of abilities. This is often linked to opportunities to use Irish and the amount of practice these speakers can get. There are some new speakers whose use of Irish does not go beyond their weekly ciorcal cainte at the local community hall or local coffee shop.
These speakers are often reluctant to engage in what they perceive as more fluent speakers. Nonetheless, they are committed to their weekly conversational groups which often involved heated debate about the Tuiseal Ginideach or irregular verbs. Newcomers to Ireland are also part of the mix and we also came across many new speakers of non-Irish origin. These speakers had often learned Irish to a very high level and are dedicated supporters of the language.
New speakers of Irish are not of course restricted to Ireland itself. We came across vibrant communities of Irish speakers at Irish Centres in the United States and online communities of language learners spanning the four corners of the world. This shows the extent to which Irish has moved beyond what we would normally think of as Irish-speaking areas.
Among new speakers, there is a strong sense of “becoming” and a desire to joining an existing group of regular Irish speakers who are committed to the future of the language. “Becoming” an Irish speaker can be a life-changing experience for people which can involve sending their children to a Gaelscoil or speaking Irish at home.
Although the teaching of Irish at school is often presented as a failure, we found that becoming an Irish speaker was often prompted by an inspirational Irish teacher. Whatever the reason though, becoming a new speaker of Irish requires a huge personal effort. Becoming an Irish speaker is a journey and for those who embark on that journey, there is always more to be learned.
Native speakers of Irish and their historical links to the Gaeltacht are an important part of new speakers’ consciousness. Some new speakers talk about tensions with native speakers. These speakers tend to have little interest in traditional Irish but will happily speak their own hybridised variety among themselves. Others forge strong links and friendships with Gaeltacht speakers, based on the common goal of promoting the use of Irish.
Most new speakers see themselves as having a role in the future of Irish. The 2012 Gaeltacht Act, while not without its faults, is the first recognition of the need to plan for Irish-speaking networks outside the traditional Gaeltacht. However the Census returns provide no evidence that the poorly-funded language planning process being rolled out in the Gaeltacht and elsewhere is having a positive impact.
Investment in community-based language planning, aimed both at the Gaeltacht and at new speakers, needs to be increased substantially for it to have any chance of success. The paltry sums allocated to the current 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language fall well short of what is required. Indeed successive governments have shown themselves to be particularly apathetic on the language question; the Language Commissioner (Coimisinéir Teanga) recently published a damning indictment of the falling standard of public services in Irish rather than the progress envisaged by the Official Languages Act 2003. These Census returns are a stark warning that the continuous increase over recent decades in the numbers of those claiming competence in Irish cannot be taken for granted. It can only be hoped that they will be a wake-up call and lead to a more engaged and pro-active public policy that will recognise the needs of regular speakers of Irish throughout the country.
Dr John Walsh is a senior lecturer in Irish at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Prof Bernadette O’Rourke works in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburg
Foinse: Irish Times
Daonáireamh 2016 agus an Ghaeilge
Aibreán 10, 2017
Dr Niall Comer – Uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge / Ollscoil Uladh
Tá go leor ráite sna meáin le roinnt laethanta anuas maidir le torthaí an daonáirimh a foilsíodh i rith na seachtaine seo caite.
Níl aon amhras gur cúis mhór imní atá sna figiúirí ina léirítear an chéad ladghú ar líon na gcainteoirí Gaeilge ó dheas ó bhí 1946 ann.
Tháinig laghdú de níos lú ná 1% ar líon na ndaoine a bhfuil Gaeilge acu (ó 1,774,347 go 1,761,420), agus laghdú de 4% ar líon na ndaoine nach bhfuil sa chóras oideachais a bhíonn ag caint Gaeilge ar bhonn laethúil (ó 77,185 go 73,803), agus b’fhéidir gurb í seo an ghné is suntasaí de seo, gur tháinig titim de 11% ar líon na gcainteoirí laethúla Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht (ó 23,175 go dtí 20,586).
Chuir Steve Ó Cúláin, Príomhfheidhmeannach Údarás na Gaeltachta, in iúl go mbaineann an titim seo go mór leis na “laghduithe suntasacha” i ndaonra na gceantar Gaeltachta agus “cúinsí eile” agus cé go bhfuil an ceart aige go bhfuil an scéal imithe in olcas de bharr na heisimirce éigeantaí, is léir don dall nach bhfuil ag éirí le cur i bhfeidhm Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge 2010-30.
Baineann an teip seo go príomha leis an easpa infheistíochta ó Rialtas na hÉireann sa Straitéis ó 2010, agus ní mór dul i ngleic leis seo láithreach, óir tá cruachás agus géarchéim sna Gaeltachtaí dá bharr.
Ní féidir leis an Rialtas an neamart atá déanta aige sa Straitéis seo a shéanadh.
Is iondúil nuair a thugann Rialtas faoi straitéis nua in aon earnáil eile, ar nós na straitéise um fhorbairt tuaithe, go ndéantar measúnú ar an mhaoiniú atá riachtanach chun forálacha na straitéise a chur i bhfeidhm agus cuirtear buiséad agus acmhainní breise ar fáil dá bharr.
Ní dhearnadh é seo i gcás Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge 2010-30 agus ina theannta sin ghearr an Rialtas siar maoiniú ollmhór ón dá gníomhaire stáit ar a dtiteann an fhreagracht is mó leis an straitéis seo a chur i bhfeidhm (laghdaíodh buiséad caipitil Údarás na Gaeltachta ó 18 milliún in 2010 go €7 milliúin in 2016 agus laghdaíodh buiséad Fhoras na Gaeilge ó €18.2 milliúin in 2010 go €14.5 milliún in 2016).
Ar ndóigh, d’fhógair an tAire Stáit i rith na seachtaine go mbeadh maoiniu breise de €735,000 ag Údarás na Gaeltachta agus €115,000 ag Foras na Gaeilge san iomlán “chun cur ar a gcumas an próiseas pleanála teanga a bhrú chun cinn” ach mhaithfí don té a déarfadh nach bhfuil oiread na fríde sa mhéid seo i gcomparáid leis an chineál infheistíochta atá riachtanach le dul i ngleic le meath na nGaeltachtaí.
Ní mór don Rialtas an dúshlan ollmhór atá léirithe i bhfigiúirí an daonáirimh a fhreagairt tríd an phlean infheistíochta atá aontaithe ag 80 grúpa Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta a mhaoiniú mar is ceart, ach ina theannta sin, beidh comhoibriú ag teastáil ón phobal, ón Stát go ginearálta agus ó na hearnálacha príobháideacha agus deonacha chun cor dearfach a chur i gcinniúint na nGaeltachtaí
Cé gur ábhar imní atá sna figiúirí sa daonáireamh ó thaobh na Gaeilge de, tá ábhar dóchais ann.
Tháinig méadú de 8% ar líon na ndaoine a bhíonn ag baint úsáide as an Ghaeilge lasmuigh den chóras oideachais ar bhonn seachtainiúil agus ní mór a thabhairt chun cuimhne an borradh ar chéatadán na ndaoine a bhfuil Gaeilge acu ó níos lú ná 20% den daonra 100 bliain ó shin go beagnach níos lú 40% sa lá atá inniu ann, ardú a tháinig de bharr obair na hathbheochana agus in ainneoin neamart leanúnach rialtais na hÉireann.
Léiríonn na figiúirí seo thíos ó Chonradh na Gaeilge treochtaí áirithe sa daonáireamh, agus ardaítear go leor ceisteanna dá bharr.
Is suntasach gur tháinig an laghdú is mó ar líon na gcainteoirí Gaeilge san aoisghrúpa 25-34 (aois an bháid bháin) ach gur san aoisghrúpa 5-14 a tháinig an fás is mó (thuas), agus gur fás thar a bheith suntasach atá ann.
Tá an chuma air (thíos) gur sna ceantair Ghaeltachta nach bhfuil cathair iontu is mó a tháinig an laghdú i bpobal labhartha na teanga agus is féidir go dtacaíonn an léiriú seo leis an ghá atá leis an obair atá idir lámha sna limistéir phleanála teanga.
Cibé léamh a bhíonn ar an daonáireamh, áfach, is soiléir go bhfuil neamart á dhéanamh ar an Ghaeilge ar an leibhéal is airde agus is soiléire fós an gá le gníomhú air seo láithreach.
Foinse: Meon Eile
Gaelscoil Bhaile Brigín 10 mbliana ag fás!
Aibreán 10, 2017
Gaelscoil Bhaile Brigín first opened its doors on the 4th September 2006 in Sunshine House, with 2 teachers and 35 students. This wonderful achievement came about as the result of 2 years of hard work and dedication of the Founding Committee. They worked tirelessly to raise awareness, enrol potential students, raise funds and achieve recognition from the Department of Education and Skills.
It was a historical day for the town of Balbriggan and the school has grown and flourished over the last 10 years to a school with 485 students, 26 teachers, 7 SNAs and ancillary staff. There are 16 mainstream classes and 2 ASD classes.
The school and ASD classes are educated through the medium of Irish. They also engage in many extra curricular and cultural activities such as sport, drama, music and various afterschool clubs. Parental involvement remains an important aspect of the school. The school also now benefits from access to a Gaelcholáiste ( Coláiste Ghlór Na mara ) in the town.
A wonderful day was had in the school on 6/4/17 to celebrate the success and growth of the school, with musicians, dancers and a concert with Seo Linn!
Ní neart go cur le chéile
An Naíonra Seoirseach
Aibreán 7, 2017
Tá oscailt mar Chúntóir Naíonra tagtha chun cinn leis an Naíonra Seoirseach (The Georgian Montessori). Tá Gaeilgeoir ag teastáil le cluichí a imirt leis na paistí agus Gaeilge a spreagadh ina measc, i mbealach spraoíúil, nádúrtha. Tá an naíonra lonnaithe i mBaile Átha Cliath 1 agus tosóidh an tréimhse i mí Meán Fómhair. Tá na páistí idir trí bliana agus dhá bhliain déag d’aois.Trí go leith uair in aghaidh an lae atá i gceist, óna leath huair tar éis a naoi go dtí a haon a chlog trathnóna. Beidh an té a chepfar ag obair ar an Luan más féidir ach tá solúbthacht i gceist . Is féidir teagmháil a dhéanamh leis an naíonra tríd ríomhphost a sheoladh chuig TheGeorgianMontessori@gmail.com
Ní thuigim: Irish language faces stark threat in its heartland
Aibreán 7, 2017
Just over a fifth of people living in Gaeltacht areas speak Irish on a daily basis
There has been an alarming drop in the number of Irish speakers in the country’s eight Gaeltacht areas in the past five years, according to official census figures, indicating that Irish is in danger of becoming extinct as a native language.
The latest official figures published by the Central Statistics Office also show the first decline in more than 80 years in the overall percentage of Irish speakers in the State.
The total number of people who said they were being able to speak Irish in April 2016 was 1,761,420, a slight drop since 2011 but, more significantly, the lowest percentage of Irish speakers since 1946.
The decline in Gaeltacht areas is starker. There has been a fall of an astonishing 11.2 per cent of daily Irish speakers since 2011. Only 21.4 per cent of a total population of 96,090 in the native speaking areas said they spoke Irish on a daily basis.
The gravest drop in the number of daily speakers in a Gaeltacht was in Mayo, home county of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. There was a drop of almost 25 per cent in daily Irish speakers in just five years, a calamitous fall for a tiny Gaeltacht.
This precipitous drop provoked criticism from the Opposition and language activist groups, which have been scathing of the Government’s approach to the language. Conradh na Gaeilge said the Government had refused to invest in the 20-year Strategy for the Irish Language over the past six years, rendering it completely ineffective.
However, the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Seán Kyne defended the Government’s record on the strategy, saying it had invested in the strategy and also pointed out that it was only six years into its 20-year term.
Peadar Tóibín of Sinn Féin said the Government’s policy was in chaos.
Dr John Walsh of the Department of Irish in National University of Ireland, Galway, described the results as “worrying”.
“The results reveal falls in all of the significant figures: daily Irish speakers outside the education system, and ability of Irish and frequency of its use in the Gaeltacht. The dramatic fall in numbers of daily speakers in the Gaeltacht is particularly significant.”
He added: “The negative returns raise fundamental questions about government policy on the Irish language, in particularly the 20-year Strategy for the Irish Language, which set out highly unrealistic targets for increases in speakers.
“It would appear that that the language-planning process in the Gaeltacht and elsewhere is having little effect. This is perhaps unsurprising, given the very small state investment in it.”
Dr Walsh pointed to a less pessimistic outlook outside the Gaeltacht areas.
“As was the case in the 2011 census, about two-thirds of daily speakers outside the education system are located outside the Gaeltacht and, while this number has also fallen, the decline is much smaller [slightly more than 1 per cent].
“This indicates that the numbers speaking Irish daily outside the Gaeltacht, although small, are more stable than within the Gaeltacht,” he said.
Foinse: Irish Times
President marks foundation of State’s first Gaelscoil
Aibreán 7, 2017
Scoil Bhríde founder Luíse Ghabhánach Ní Dhufaigh first taught at Patrick Pearse’s Scoil Íde
President Higgins placed a copy of a speech he delivered into a time capsule along with photographs and letters written by schoolchildren at the Gaelscoil.
The time capsule will be opened in 2067 when the oldest child currently in the school will be 62 years of age.
The school was founded by suffragist and nationalist Luíse Ghabhánach Ní Dhufaigh (also known as Louise Gavan Duffy) and Áine Nic Aodha with just a dozen students in 1917.
All subjects were taught through the medium of Irish.
Ní Dhufaigh, who was born and raised in Nice, first came to Ireland to attend the funeral of her father, Young Irelander Charles Gavan Duffy in 1903.
She returned some years later to study at UCD and met Patrick Pearse through Conradh na Gaeilge. She later taught at his school, Scoil Íde, in Teach Feadha Cuileann where she developed her own vision of education.
She was present in the GPO during Easter Week, 1916 and was a founding member of Cumann na mBan. She died in October 1969.
Originally housed in No. 70 St. Stephen’s Green, the school moved several times since its foundation and is currently located on Bóthar Feadha Cuileann in Ranelagh.
Foinse: Irish Times
Dublin Gaelscoil pupils sing beautiful Irish version of Hallelujah
Aibreán 7, 2017
Pupils at Scoil Bhríde primary school in Ranelagh, Dublin entertained President Higgins with music and song including an as Gaeilge version of Hallelujah when he visited the school to mark it’s 100th centenary. Video: Conchubhair Mac Lochlainn
Foinse: Irish Time
Cuairt tugtha ag an Uachtarán ar Scoil Bhríde
Aibreán 6, 2017
Féach ar fhíseán den ócáid anseo
Irish yes, but not always Catholic
Aibreán 6, 2017
The main gaelscoileanna patron body says reconfiguration of the primary school system is not only about religion
There is a lot of talk about making the education system more diverse.
Classrooms are certainly more inclusive but progress on changing the architecture of school patronage to reflect the shift in cultural and religious mores has been slow.
Much of the focus in the debate is on the place of religion in the primary school sector. A situation where 90pc of schools are under the control of the Catholic Church is regarded, even by the church itself, as not a proper reflection of the needs of modern Ireland.
A five-year-old process to divest some of the 2,900 Catholic schools to other patrons has seen no more than 10 change hands. The current education minister, Richard Bruton, has come up with a new word, reconfiguration, and a different process, to try to move it on.
The new approach is not unrelated to the arrival, in recent years, of community national schools, which are run by the education and training boards (ETBs), the successors to the VECs. The Catholic Church certainly seems amenable to them as a patron body to which it would transfer schools, and so does the minister.
Unlike the traditional multi-denominational model – which keeps religion teaching out of the classrooms altogether – community national schools, while providing a general multi-belief programme, also offer faith formation within school time, for those who want it.
Clear battle lines are drawn between Educate Together, which has been the main provider of multi-denominational schools at primary level, and ETBs, which act as patrons of the community national schools. But they are not the only ones in the field, and it is not only a religious war.
Primary school enrolments will peak in the next year or so, which means there will be very few new schools in the foreseeable future. So, a shakeout of the Catholic Church-controlled sector provides the main opportunity for patron bodies of all persuasions, religious or otherwise, to grow their presence.
An Foras Pátrúnachta is the patron for most Irish-medium schools in the country. It has some concerns that, in the current debate, its offering is not fully understood and that it may get squeezed if the reshaping of Irish primary education is seen purely through the lens of religious ethos.
Its general secretary, Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, says the issue to be confronted is not only religion but also the medium of instruction. But, if it is about religious ethos, he wants it known that he can offer all options.
An Foras Pátrúnachta’s main mission is the provision of Irish-medium schools; it is flexible on the issue of spiritual ethos, responding to local needs. Its first school, in 1993, was multi-denominational and it also has schools that are denominational (Catholic) and inter-denominational (Catholic and Protestant). So, it has ticked all the traditional boxes in terms of religion.
Now there is a another option – the one offered by community national schools, a hybrid of sorts between denominational and multi-denominational.
Last month, Ó hEaghra wrote to Richard Bruton to let him know that An Foras Pátrúnachta was adding this choice to its offering and asking him to spread the word to relevant parties.
That is a reference to the surveys to be conducted under the reconfiguration process, by ETBs, to identify towns or areas within their regions there is demand for greater school diversity. (As well as being a patron body for community national schools, the ETBs have been given this central role – to the displeasure of some.) Where demand for change is identified, there will be discussions between individual ETBs and local church interests about possible transfers.
Ó hEaghra says it provides an opportunity not only for Catholic gaelscoileanna to transfer to an Irish-medium patron, but also to establish Irish medium schools in areas where there are none, and provide multi-denominational or inter-belief education through the medium of Irish.
So, what is the demand for Irish-medium education? Ó hEaghra offers an example: Last year, a new school opened on the north side of Dublin city, serving the Marino-Drumcondra-Dublin 1 area, to cater for 450 pupils. This was not to do with divestment or reconfiguration, but a consequence of local birth rates.
Once the Department of Education decides there is sufficient demand for a new school, it invites patrons to apply, and to back up their application with evidence of parental support. In this case, An Foras Pátrúnachta produced 733 names – but almost half were from outside the qualifying area. On the other hand, Educate Together, had 643 parental preferences, 622 of which were valid, and was awarded the patronage.
Ó hEaghra says that even if many of their supporters were outside the official boundary, and many, only slightly, he says it did establish a significant demand in the area for an Irish-medium school that has not been addressed and “there remains no option for a multi-denominational gaelscoil north of the Liffey in Dublin”.
He points to a 2015 ESRI study that shows growing interest for Irish-medium education: between 2011 and 2015 there was an increase, from 13pc to 23pc, in parents who said they would consider sending their child to an all-Irish primary school, if one was located near their home. Some 4.7pc of primary schools are gaelscoileanna.
An Foras Pátrúnachta is patron to 65 primary schools and four second-level schools, with two more on the way. Ó hEaghra says that where it does establish schools at both levels the “results are formidable”.
In Kildare, it has four primary schools and one second-level. The 2011 census showed that 83,526 people in the county could speak Irish, compared with 73,373 in 2006. Ó hEaghra says they “attribute this growth directly to the success of our schools and their efforts to promote and foster an Irish speaking community in their areas. In addition to their children, parents are often motivated to re-learn Irish along with their children”.
He says that one-in-four of their schools is multi-denominational, and that the make up of their schools generally reflect the local community.
Gaelscoileanna often face charges of being elitist and allegedly only interested in children whose parents are fluent in Irish. He counters that with the results of an An Foras Pátrúnachta study, conducted in January and February, which shows that 9.6pc of its pupils are “new Irish”, compared with a national average of 10.4pc. Almost half of its schools have a higher rate of “new Irish” than the national average and, in one school, in Co Cavan, 28pc of pupils are “new Irish”.
Notwithstanding this, he says they face challenges getting their message across: “We are working to encourage more ‘new Irish’ to attend our schools. Many families are not aware of how their child’s home language/or development of English is actually enhanced by the immersion education model and that the distinctive ethos can vary from gaelscoil to gaelscoil.”
Gaeilgeoirí – and proud of it
The rapid expansion of Balbriggan in north county Dublin in the past decade has also seen it transform into a town with one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the country.
Among its primary schools is Gaelscoil Bhaile Brigín, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
The gaelscoil opened with 35 pupils in 2006, and now it is full to capacity with 485, including many from “new Irish” families. In some cases, one, or both, parents come from a non-Irish background. In the past two years, the school has opened two special classes for pupils with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).
Principal Clodagh Ní Mhaoilchiaráin says the different ethnic background of the pupils is not an issue when it comes to education through the medium of Irish, either for the children or their parents. She says children have no difficulty, including those with special educational needs: “It doesn’t matter what the child’s background is. It is shown internationally, and nationally, that learning through a second language is hugely beneficial to all children.”
On the question of the proficiency in levels in Irish of parents, she says that while “people might say that it could be difficult for them, they would attest that it is not as big a worry as it may appear before their children start in the school. There are plenty of supports”.
Fin-Tech event for teenagers launched by Co. Louth Gaelcholáiste student
Aibreán 4, 2017
The Young Developers Conference (YDC) is a first of its kind tech event is to launch on Saturday 13th May this year. YDC will provide teenage tech enthusiasts / developers / would-be entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet some of the most successful Irish tech entrepreneurs and people from the world of Irish fin-tech. The participants can hear about the entrepreneurs’ experiences with tech project finance. This unique event will allow Ireland’s finance professionals the opportunity to meet tomorrows potential tech CEOs.
The YDC concept originated with 16-year-old Dundalk Coláiste Lú transition year student Cormac Kinsella in 2016. His objective in launching YDC is to get the smartest and most talented coders talking to the financial sector. Assisting in event organising are three other 16-year-olds – (Gytis Daujotas from Clondalkin, Cormac Salman from Drogheda and Oisín Ó’Duibhir from Limerick). In addition Trinity College Dublin School of Physics and the Walton Club have also been hugely supportive in hosting and advising on this event.
Tickets for YDC can be booked online at ydc17.com for as little as 2 euro each.
Coders interested in presenting a project can forward their details to projects.ydc17.com.
In 2013, at the age of 13, Cormac and Cían Martin-Bohan were the youngest app developers in Ireland when they released their first App (Open Share) which allowed multiple social media updates from a single input. The following year he released the Focal.ie Irish / English dictionary App which has since been downloaded by c. 12,000 Irish language enthusiasts. In 2015 Cormac was invited by Ciaran Cannon TD to be one of the founding members of The Digital Youth Council of Ireland. This year Cormac & Cormac Salman have launched two Apps: Local Trade; a convenient buy & sell items App in your local area and Sence Clothing; an App for browsing branded clothes from different vendors in a single place.
