Admission to Schools Draft Bill for Primary and Post-primary Schools
October 16, 2013
Ar smaoinigh tú riamh ar chónaí sa Ghaeltacht?
October 16, 2013
Dianchúrsa Gaeilge | Irish Crash Course
October 16, 2013
Gaelscoil Éanna
19ú Deireadh Fómhair 10in – 2in | 19th October 10am – 2pm
Tá an dianchúrsa is fearr riamh leagtha amach againn don séasúr seo!
Beidh na saineolaithe, Sean Ó hEachain, Maitiú Ó hEachaidh agus Caoimhin Mac an Bhaird ag soláthar an chúrsa. Tabharfar gach deis duit an teanga a fhoghlaim ón tús nó forbairt a dhéanamh ar an méid Gaeilge atá agat cheana féin.
Beidh bunrang agus meánrang á reáchtáil mar chuid den chúrsa agus cuirfear lón éadrom agus sólaistí ar fáil le
linn an lae.
This season’s crash course will be the best one yet!
We have the wonderful Sean Ó hEachain, Maitiú Ó hEachaidh and Caoimhin Mac an Bhaird delivering the course and will allow every opportunity to learn the language for the first time or to develop and improve the knowledge you already have.
We will be offering Beginners agus Intermediate Level classes and a light lunch and refreshments during the day will be provided.
Croi Eanna
Bóthar an Bhaile Aird
An Baile Bocht
Gleann Ghormlaithe, Éire BT36 7AU
Dictionary with pictures to help revive Irish
October 16, 2013
ONE of Britain’s oldest educational institutions has published a book aimed at supporting the Irish language revival among children.
The Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced the publication of an Irish-to-English visual dictionary, aimed at youngsters aged eight years and upward. The book has been targeted at the burgeoning Irish community in Britain as well as the Irish market. The publisher, which is a department of the centuries-old University of Oxford, said its supports the Irish language revival. “Since 2000 there has been a growing resurgence of interest in maintaining and reviving Irish Gaelic with a growing desire to teach the next generation the language of their forebears,” the university said. Each section of the book, features a brief introduction followed by colourful and contemporary illustrations and it includes around 1,500 vocabulary items in both Irish and English. Vineeta Gupta, children’s dictionary publisher with the OUP, said that Irish has been undergoing a revival.
PROUD
“People are quite rightly proud of their heritage and want to keep it alive and pass it on for future generations – and part of our OUP mission is about helping to support language learners wherever they are.”
www.herald.ie
Analysis of BUDGET 2014
October 16, 2013
Budget 2014 was announced by Minister Michael Noonan T.D. this afternoon. A summary of the Budget documentation is available through Irish here: Achoimre ar Bhearta Bhuiséad 2014.pdf.
Below is a summary of the alterations in expenditure announced today which will effect Irish language and Gaeltacht matters in 2014.
Irish language, Gaeltacht and Islands
The budget allocated for the provision Irish language, Gaeltacht and Island services through the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht will be cut by 5% in 2014 from €42M to €40M.
Due to the overall cut to services, the current expenditure for Gaeltacht and Island services will be reduced by over 5% from €33,519,000 to €31,882,000 and capital expenditure will decrease 6% from €8,441,000 to dtí €7,973,000
Today saw the announcement of savings of €1.3M by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in 2014 through a review of schemes, structures and organisations.
An Foras Teanga, Údarás na Gaeltachta and An Coimisinéir Teanga
An allocation of €13.6M will be made available to An Foras Teanga for 2014, a reduction of 7.3% from €14.6M in 2013.
Grants allocated to Údarás na Gaeltachta are divided between capital expenditure, administration costs and current expenditure. The body’s current expenditure grant will fall 13% to €3M, administration will be down 4.5% to €8.8M, and capital expenditure will be reduced from €6M in 2013 to €5.7M for the year 2014.
Oifig an Choimisinéara Teanga will receive €567,000 for 2014, down from €615,000 last year.
Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley T.D., said he believes the provision for Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga and the Language Body (Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency) will enable them to fulfil their statutory functions in 2014.
20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language
€0.5M will be made available to the Department towards the implementation of the 20 Year Strategy and in particular the Language Planning Process.
The Minister of State welcomed the announcement and said it is a “clear indication of the implementation of the commitment in the Programme for Government which states that the Government will support the Strategy and will deliver on the achievable goals proposed therein”.
“This funding will enable my Department to undertake various activities which will support the language planning process on the ground. This includes support for community organisations to assist them in preparing and implementing language plans under the Gaeltacht Act 2012” said Minister McGinley.
Statement by Minister of State Dinny McGinley T.D.
Regarding the total amount allocated to Irish language, Gaeltacht and Island matters for 2014, Minister McGinley said: “Although it was necessary to reduce the Departmental budget across the board, I am confident that we will be able to meet our priorities within the allocation provided. My absolute priority will be the protection of frontline services while making tough decisions in view of the reduced allocation. In that context, we will be focussing more than ever on achieving effectiveness and value for money from the Exchequer allocation”.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Scéalaíocht, Sean-nós agus Puipéid do Pháistí
October 15, 2013
Pinocchio: a rebel icon that appeals to real boys and girls in any language
October 15, 2013
When Mairéad and Ionia Ní Chróinín were small, their father, Dáibhí, would read them the tale of Pinocchio, which had been translated into Irish directly from Italian by Pádraig Ó Buachalla in the early 1930s.
Eachtra Phinocchio was, as Carlo Collodi’s original story had been, somewhat darker and deeper than the fantasy created for cinema by Walt Disney. Later on, their father was instrumental in bringing out a new edition in Irish, with illustrations. What struck his older daughter Mairéad was the appeal the story had for teenagers. Here was a marionette with an overwhelming urge to rebel, and a character who was “far more interesting for all that”. And so, decades later, she and one of her younger siblings fashioned a bilingual version for stage, which has won critical acclaim, received a Stewart Parker award for Irish- language drama, and which enjoys its final outing this week, at the Baboró International Arts Festival for Children in Galway. “Well, we think it’s final, but you never know.” Mairéad and Ionia, co-directors of Moonfish Theatre, laugh.
O’Connor adaptation
They have good reason to feel cheerful. Just hours before this interview, they were informed that An Taibhdhearc theatre would stage their new production, based on Joseph O’Connor’s novel, Star of the Sea, at next year’s Galways Arts Festival. As with Tromluí Phinocchio (Pinocchio: A Nightmare), their approach to this new project involves a number of developmental stages. And so, during the final weekend of this month’s Galway Theatre Festival, they invited a small audience to an upstairs Taibhdhearc studio to view their “work in progress” on interpreting aspects of O’Connor’s text. Sample scenes were rehearsed – such as The Monster, The Victim, Captain’s Log – and the single-sheet programme came with a series of questions formulated by the ensemble. “We really do like to work with an audience early on. There’s a model for theatre, but it was one that we didn’t feel very fulfilled by,” they say, acknowledging that their method can be a painstaking way of working. The pair set up their company after an impromptu production at the Project 06 alternative arts festival in Galway seven years ago, when Ionia, a puppeteer and musician, had returned from studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now known as the Royal Conservatoire) in Glasgow. Mairéad, who studied politics at the University of Glasgow, was also back west with experience in stage management gained in Dublin. Ionia, who is also involved with the Branar theatre company in Galway, spent a period with Danish practitioners who would take more than a year to develop a show.
Walking away
“It was a series of blocks, if you like, where walking away for a time in between each segment was just as important … a bit like leaving an instrument down after labouring over a tune, and picking it up again days later to find you can play it so much better,” she says. “It’s not a way of working that suits some actors, but it was one that we developed quite consciously with The Secret Garden in 2009.”
That adaptation of the classic novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett was first staged at the Galway Theatre Festival in 2009, and the entire ensemble was involved in production, direction, costume choice, set design, construction, music and lighting. “It’s very loose, no one is telling anyone what to do, everyone is encouraged to make suggestions, and so it can feel quite unsafe. Even with our morning warm-up, everyone takes turns, and we don’t hold auditions. Discarding ideas is as important as creating them, as those ideas that are strong enough tend to return.” The Ní Chróiníns grew up in a creative and bilingual household. Their father, Daibhí, is professor of medieval history at NUI Galway and their mother, Maura, is the main mover behind the Galway Early Music Festival.
Music and language
Their approach in Moonfish extends to music – everyone seems to be able to sing or play an instrument or both – and the Irish language, which they prefer to see as limitless, rather than limiting, in terms of communication. Foras na Gaeilge, their main funder, clearly has no problem with that. “We were involved in a co-production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People (Namhaid don Phobal) in the Taibhdhearc in 2009, where we used surtitles for those with little or no Irish,” they recall. “We got a mixed response to that, because there is a view that one should not be doing this. But there are so many people with such goodwill to the language, who are so stressed about their perceived inability to use it, that we wanted to reach out to them.” Motion, image and expression are employed to transcend linguistic boundaries, and in Tromluí Phinocchio, the puppet’s insistence on speaking English is integral to his teenage revolt. Branar and other Galway Gaeltacht-based companies such as Fibín also use that kind of physical imagery successfully, relying on the intuitive sense that younger audiences have about a storyline in any language. Baboró artistic director Lali Morris says current issues for young people, such as bullying and taking responsibility for choices and actions as they affect other people, are themes skilfully addressed by Moonfish in Tromluí Phinocchio. “This is a group that is not just doing children’s theatre for a while, but really wants to challenge their audiences of any age,” she says. “What is striking about their work is their extraordinary energy, range of talents and, ultimately, their respect for the intellect of the child.”
Highlights: Baboró children’s festival
Baboró is the Galway-based international arts festival for children. Along with Moonfish’s production of Tromluí Phinocchio, highlights of the festival include Collapsing Horse Theatre Company’s Human Child, inspired by WB Yeats’s poem The Stolen Child, and an Abbey Theatre production of Me, Mollser , the story of a young Dubliner (played by Mary-Louise McCarthy) who is struck by consumption during the 1913 Lockout. Other shows include two by La Baracca – Testoni Ragazzi, the Italian children’s theatre group from Bologna, and one by the Dutch puppet company Theatre Lejo, while American singer Tom Chapin, a periodic Baboró visitor, returns. Also returning is the Catherine Wheels Theatre Company of Scotland’s Lifeboat, which first came to Galway in 2003. A number of free events running during the week including creative activities in the Exploratorium – a temporary activity centre that will focus on arts, technology and science. The festival is introducing a “relaxed programme” for parents or teachers who may have concerns about bringing children with specific needs to public venues. Pictiúr, the work of 21 leading children’s book illustrators, will also be exhibited at the Galway Arts Centre, while author and illustrator Oisín McGann visits on Saturday.
Baboró runs until Sunday. baboro.ie
www.irishtimes.com
Gaeilge 24
October 15, 2013
As part of ‘Bliain na Gaeilge’ school students across the country will be taking part in a challenge to speak nothing but Irish for 24 hours.
This challenge, known as Gaeilge 24, will take place on Wednesday, 13 November 2014, and will be held as one of the main events of the year-long bliain na Gaeilge celebration. This challenge follows a recent successful world record attempt by Bliain na Gaeilge organisers to conduct a 168 hour conversation through Irish by linking groups from across the globe. This project, Comhrá 24/7 took place from 29 September – 06 October 2013.
Gaeilge 24 will be suitable for teachers and youth leaders who wish to inspire their students to speak Irish. Each student will receive a pack with a t-shirt, 20 key phrases and ideas for the day. As the challenge is a fundraiser, students will have the chance to collect sponsorship or pay a subscription to take part in the event. All money raised will be donated to Ciste na Gaeilge, to support Irish language initiatives across the country.
Manager of Seachtain na Gaeilge, Brenda Ní Ghairbhí, said: “the event aims to inspire young people to speak only Irish for 24 hours, at home, in school, in shops or businesses, around town, with friends, in their sports club or in their youth club”.
Further information in relation to this project is available by contacting Seachtain na Gaeilge on +353 (0)1 4757401 or eolas@snag.ie.
www.gaelport.com
Kildare writers win awards
October 14, 2013
Two Kildare writers were honoured at the Oireachtas na Gaeilge Literary Competitions in Croke Park on October 1.
Bríd Dáibhis from Kilcock, won first prize in the short story category with “Nochtadh na Fírinne”. Maynooth’s Liadan Ní Chearbhaill also received an award for her story titled “An Sorcas” . Prizes were awarded to both established and aspiring writers in the Irish language at the ceremony. The annual Oireachtas na Gaeilge Literary Competitions are the most esteemed awards for Irish language writers. All genres of Irish language literature are featured with over 15 categories including fiction, short stories, song writing and journalism.
www.leinsterleader.ie
Published on Gaelport.com 14 October 2013
Leinster Leader
Irish language is core of our culture
October 14, 2013
Madam — As an ardent fan of Gay Byrne as a constant promoter of the sociable ‘cúpla focal’ I was amazed at his ‘Ochón! Ochón!’ attitude to the Irish language ( Sunday Independent, October 6, 2013).
Declan Lynch seemed amazed also at how “Un-Irish he (Gay) has been in many ways” and having read the entire article, I must say I sure did not feel very upbeat, or inclined to utter maith an buachaill, Gaybo! There are a lot of aspects to the Irish language movement that I ignore, but I applaud the many conversation groups who meet to chat and relish the chance to revive and preserve our native tongue, it’s the core of our Irish culture and at the heart of our traditional values.
Yes I have encountered the Gaeilgeoir in the extreme, bail ó Dhia air, I respect him and move on. As a written and spoken language, Gaeilge is one of the richest, floweriest canúint — the likes of its humorous, richly descriptive characteristics and witty proverbs are not to be found in any other language. May I suggest a translation of your book Gaybo, which would be entitled “Brí na Beatha” and all my cáirde-le-chéile in our friendly ciorcal chómhrá could enjoy a pleasant read and a chat over the cupán tae!
Eilís Uí Bhriain, Caisleán Uí Liatháin, Co Chorcaí
www.independent.ie
Published on Gaelport.com 14 October 2013
Sunday Independent – Litir chuig an Eagarthóir
