Protestants and the Irish Language

[bradán feasa]

Last night in Belfast Dr. Ian Malcolm launched a book called ‘Towards Inclusion: Protestants and the Irish Language’ which details the views of Protestants in the north towards the Irish language.

Below is a documentary on the historic relationship between the Irish language and Protestants in Ireland

[ame=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6180876084809751013]No Rootless Colonists: Na Gaeil-Phrotastúnaigh [1/2][/ame]
[ame=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8639975746775063968]No Rootless Colonists: Na Gaeil-Phrotastúnaigh [2/2][/ame]

[macdarawhitfield]

Last night in Belfast Dr. Ian Malcolm launched a book called ‘Towards Inclusion: Protestants and the Irish Language’ which details the views of Protestants in the north towards the Irish language.

Below is a documentary on the historic relationship between the Irish language and Protestants in Ireland

No Rootless Colonists: Na Gaeil-Phrotastúnaigh [1/2]
No Rootless Colonists: Na Gaeil-Phrotastúnaigh [2/2]

Very interesting bradan feasa.Lots I didn't know.I knew Liz a hAon had an Irish Grammar though.Apparently,after the usual pleasantries,she would say: 'Abair i Laidin ,mas e do thoil e.' All the educated folk knew Latin even if they had little English and she had little Irish.

Do any posters here know of the Rev.Goodman who preached as Gaeilge in west Kerry late 18th /early 19th C? Read about him once and now I cant find the source.Sorry - fada not working!

[cactusflower]

Iain Crichton Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I heard this guy reading his work in Ireland once. Scots Gaelic seems to me to be the same language, substantially, as Irish. He was an atheist former Presbyterian from a small Scottish island and got a rather hostile reation from the audience, who seemed to think he had no business going near our classic topics of sad partings on piers etc.

[HJ McCracken]

Anyone who has an interest in the topic should read "Hidden Ulster" by Padraig O Snodaigh.
It outlines the extent Protestant invovement with Irish laguage during and after the plantation.

[Evil Eco-Fascist]

Thanks for the video link! Always wanted to see that documentary, but missed the original broadcasts on TG4.

[Tomas Mor]

Rev. Goodman was in Dingle and west cork, and TCD i think, there is some memorial to him at Trinity. He preseserved a lot of Irish and music in west Kerry.A lot of his work was lost sadly. Some people say that the blaskets owe a lot to Protestsant missionaries - they brought help and learning so that people could write it down. I think Muiris O Suilleabhain acknowledged this.And I think Peig Sayers was of Protestant extraction. And Doughlas Hyde was a Protestant and collected a lot of old Irish around his native Frenchpark. However he left the Gaelic League when men of violence took it over. Same as Provos hi jacked language and drove a lot of well wishers away. Dr. Caird, Cof I archbishop of Dublin was a fluent gaeilgeoir.

[martino]

Nice erudite thread, fair play.

[macdarawhitfield]

Peig's grandad was English.Robin Flower - Bláithín - helped a lot of people to preserve their stories too.Not forgetting Eric Cross,who wrote the Tailor and Anstey,the brilliant memoir of Tadg O Buachaille.

[slx]

I think the more controversial and real issue might be Northern Ireland Unionists and their attitude towards the Irish language, rather than protestants.

Once you get away from the usual 'us' and 'them' attitudes in Northern Ireland, which can make almost anything political, there are plenty of protestants who were actively involved in preserving the Irish language.

Historically, many of the Anglo-Irish poets were massively involved in the Gaelic cultural revival etc etc.

The language really shouldn't have a political badge attached to it by anyone.

It is what it is, a language and it records a massive part of the culture on this island.

[Lao-Tse]

I think the more controversial and real issue might be Northern Ireland Unionists and their attitude towards the Irish language, rather than protestants.

Once you get away from the usual 'us' and 'them' attitudes in Northern Ireland, which can make almost anything political, there are plenty of protestants who were actively involved in preserving the Irish language.

Historically, many of the Anglo-Irish poets were massively involved in the Gaelic cultural revival etc etc.

The language really shouldn't have a political badge attached to it by anyone.

It is what it is, a language and it records a massive part of the culture on this island.

Yeah. Apparently there are graves of the ancestors of
prominent Unionists in the North which have inscriptions
in Irish.
Roger Blaney and Padraig O Snodaigh have also written about
this subject.
the North