The Language Freedom Movement (Irish : Gluaiseacht Saoirse Teanga) was a political organisation founded in 1966 that was opposed to some aspects of the state-attempted revival of the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland. The organisation had the backing of several notable Irish-speaking writers including Séamus Ó Grianna ("Máire") and John B. Keane. [1] [2]
At the time the organisation was formed, if a student failed the Irish paper in their Leaving Certificate, they were deemed to have failed the whole exam. [3] This requirement was abolished in 1973, although students are still obliged to study Irish as part of the Leaving Certificate programme and a pass is required for Irish students entering almost all Irish universities (but not for foreign students). In 1974, Irish was removed as a requirement for entry to the civil service. [3]
Significant changes in the Leaving Certificate maths curriculum were reflected in two new textbooks produced by the Irish Christian Brothers. However, material for the new honours (higher-level) syllabus was offered only in a government-subsidised book in Irish while the pass (lower-level) material was published in English. The situation continued for several years until affordable alternative textbooks eventually became available.
The organisation held a meeting in the Mansion House in Dublin on 21 September 1966. [3] [4] It was advertised by a poster with a cartoon depicting the "Gaelic language policy" as a well-fed cow sitting atop the educational system. [5] The meeting was chaired by broadcaster Gay Byrne. [5] About 2000 people turned up, though most of them seemed opposed to the organisation. [3] [5] Opponents taunted the organisers by waving Union Jacks at them and singing "God Save the Queen". [3] [5] As John B. Keane got up to speak, one man seized an Irish Tricolour from the table used by the organisation, shouting that the flag should not be displayed at such a meeting. [3] [5] A fight involving ten men broke out and calm was only restored when the LFM agreed to four of their opponents speaking at the meeting. [3]
The Gardaí were also present at the meeting. At the request of the organisers, Patrick Byrne TD had asked the Garda Commissioner to ensure law and order prevailed. [6]
Irish language writer Máirtín Ó Cadhain and Mick Ryan (the IRA O/C of Dublin) were involved in the disruption of the meeting. [7] [8] [5]
Conradh na Gaeilge is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emerged as the successor of several 19th century groups such as the Gaelic Union. The organisation was a spearhead of the Gaelic revival and of Gaeilgeoir activism.
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. However, private schools in Scotland often choose to follow the English GCSE system.
The Leaving Certificate Examination, commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert or (informally) the Leaving, is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system and the university matriculation examination in Ireland. It takes a minimum of two years' preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior Cycle examination. These years are referred to collectively as "The Senior Cycle". Most students taking the examination are aged 16–19; in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam. The Examination is overseen by the State Examinations Commission. The Leaving Certificate Examinations are taken annually by approximately 60,000 students.
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924. Its counterpart in the United States of America was initially the Fenian Brotherhood, but from the 1870s it was Clan na Gael. The members of both wings of the movement are often referred to as "Fenians". The IRB played an important role in the history of Ireland, as the chief advocate of republicanism during the campaign for Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom, successor to movements such as the United Irishmen of the 1790s and the Young Irelanders of the 1840s.
Education in the Republic of Ireland is a primary, secondary and higher education. In recent years, further education has grown immensely, with 51% of working age adults having completed higher education by 2020. Growth in the economy since the 1960s has driven much of the change in the education system. For universities there are student service fees, which students are required to pay on registration, to cover examinations, insurance and registration costs.
The Gaelic revival was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language and Irish Gaelic culture. Irish had diminished as a spoken tongue, remaining the main daily language only in isolated rural areas, with English having become the dominant language in the majority of Ireland.
Events from the year 1928 in Ireland.
The Institute of Education (IOE), is one of the largest private secondary schools in Ireland, teaching 4th, 5th and 6th year pupils. As well as preparing for the Leaving Certificate, fourth year pupils at the Institute have the option to study a selection of subjects from the Cambridge International GCSE programme (IGCSE) as well as CEFR Language exams.
Fáinne is the name of a pin badge worn to show fluency in, or a willingness to speak, the Irish language.
Frank Edwards was a teacher and prominent Irish communist.
The history of the Irish language begins with the period from the arrival of speakers of Celtic languages in Ireland to Ireland's earliest known form of Irish, Primitive Irish, which is found in Ogham inscriptions dating from the 3rd or 4th century AD. After the conversion to Christianity in the 5th century, Old Irish begins to appear as glosses and other marginalia in manuscripts written in Latin, beginning in the 6th century. It evolved in the 10th century to Middle Irish. Early Modern Irish represented a transition between Middle and Modern Irish. Its literary form, Classical Gaelic, was used by writers in both Ireland and Scotland until the 18th century, in the course of which slowly but surely writers began writing in the vernacular dialects, Ulster Irish, Connacht Irish, Munster Irish and Scottish Gaelic. As the number of hereditary poets and scribes dwindled under British rule in the early 19th century, Irish became a mostly spoken tongue with little written literature appearing in the language until the Gaelic Revival of the late 19th century. The number of speakers was also declining in this period with monoglot and bilingual speakers of Irish increasingly adopting only English: while Irish never died out, by the time of the Revival it was largely confined to the less Anglicised regions of the island, which were often also the more rural and remote areas. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Irish has continued to survive in Gaeltacht regions and among a minority in other regions. It has once again come to be considered an important part of the island's culture and heritage, with efforts being made to preserve and promote it.
Anarchism in Ireland has its roots in the stateless organisation of the tuatha in Gaelic Ireland. It first began to emerge from the libertarian socialist tendencies within the Irish republican movement, with anarchist individuals and organisations sprouting out of the resurgent socialist movement during the 1880s, particularly gaining prominence during the time of the Dublin Socialist League.
Irish, also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism.
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe was a minor fascist political party in Ireland, founded by Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin in March 1942. The party sought to form a totalitarian Irish Christian corporatist state and its sympathies were with the Axis powers in World War II. It was one of a wave of minor far-right parties in 1940s Ireland, like the Irish Monetary Reform Association, that failed to achieve mainstream success.
Seán Mac Stíofáin was an English-born chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, a position he held between 1969 and 1972.
The official status of the Irish language has remained high in the Republic of Ireland from foundation. This reflects the dominance of the language in Irish cultural and social history until the nineteenth century and its role in Irish cultural identity. In 2022, strong recognition was added in Northern Ireland also. In the 2022 Republic of Ireland census 1,873,997 people or 39.8% of the population in the Republic of Ireland said that they had some ability to speak Irish, out of an overall population of 5,149,139. In Northern Ireland 228,600 people (12.4%) have some ability in the Irish language according to the 2021 census for Northern Ireland, out of a population of 1,903,175 people. It has been found, however, that while ideological support for Irish is high, actual routine use is very low, and that there is very little or rare correlation between personal fluency in the language and the perceived value of Irish as an identity-marker. Nevertheless, the language benefits from the support of activists who continue to use it as a social and cultural medium.
Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin was an Irish language activist, nationalist and far-right politician born in Belfast, Ireland. He was the founder and leader of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, a fascist party which sought to create a Christian corporatist state and revive the Irish language through the establishment of an authoritarian dictatorship in Ireland.
St Joseph's Fairview, sometimes St Joseph's C.B.S., and previously St Joseph's Secondary Christian Brothers' School, is a co-educational secondary school in Fairview, Dublin, Ireland, having been boys-only until 2023. The school was in the patronage of the Irish Christian Brothers; the patron is now the Edmund Rice Schools Trust.
On 12 March 2020, all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities in the Republic of Ireland were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shutdown resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 Leaving Certificate and 2020–2021 Junior Certificate examinations, as well as all 2020–2021 Irish language summer courses in the Gaeltacht.
Risteárd Ó Glaisne was a Methodist Irish language activist, teacher and writer.