Students and hosts distraught while Gaeltacht regions count cost as summer without Irish college hits home
FOR the first summer in memory the annual pilgrimage to the Gaeltacht won’t take place, leaving students disappointed and host families and colleges counting the cost.
Officially, it’s about learning Irish, but for many of the 27,000 students, mainly teenagers, who travel to 42 summer colleges every year, the lure is the craic, new friendships and a strike at life away from home.
For four years, Aoife Lambe (16), from Dublin’s Marino, has gone to Donegal and taken the boat from Burtonport to Arranmore Island, to attend Coláiste Árainn Mhóir.
She leaves the city behind for three weeks to experience island life with teenagers, learn Irish and taste freedom away from family. It’s the high point of her summer.
But while the island is free of coronavirus, no courses are going ahead there or at any Gaeltacht college this year.
Aoife, a fifth-year pupil at Maryfield College, Drumcondra, initially thought three weeks would be a long time, but it wasn’t.
“Even the school part of it was a positive experience. It’s fun and there’s the friendships and freedom too. I loved it so much and I learned so much Irish. I wouldn’t be able to do honours without it. The bean an tí was like a mam and she had everything ready for us.”
Aoife was looking forward to meeting up with the same girls she spent her summer with last year and is now very disappointed.
Manus Ó Luathairí, who runs Coláiste Árainn Mhóir, is also disappointed. He said the students mean so much to the community and are very valuable to the local economy.
He estimated the island’s Gaeltacht brings in €1.5m a year to the wider area.
When the summer courses or ‘cursaí an tSamhraidh’ began on the island in 1985, 50 youngsters came. Now, 350 teenagers arrive on two separate three-week stints.
Each course brings in 13 teachers and 25 university students. “I am devastated, but as long as we can go ahead in 2021 we will cope,” he says.
Concos, the national federation of Irish language colleges, said the industry is worth at least €50m annually to Gaeltacht regions. That includes an annual subsidy to about 700 households who provide accommodation.
Concos is seeking an aid package for the colleges and the families.
Gaeltacht Minister Seán Kyne said discussions are ongoing regarding the re-purposing of funding to support this sector “into next year and beyond”.
John and Maureen McCafferty have been welcoming students to their home on Arranmore for five years.
Mr McCafferty described the courses as the heartbeat of the island during the summer, when the island’s 400-strong population almost doubles with excited teenagers.
“They’re everywhere. They’re walking the roads, on the beaches and coming and going. They become such a part of the house when they’re here. They become like one of yourown.”
With two daughters in college and one in school, taking in Gaeltacht students has been an important revenue stream.
More than anything they, like all the islanders, will miss the students.
“People talk about them coming for weeks beforehand. My Dad, Philly, is 92 and he’d be on the road talking to them. They’ll be a big loss.”
Bean an tí Elaine Grady, who runs Teach Barney on Arranmore, said it’s a massive blow for the island.
“I’m going to miss them. People might think having 10 teenage girls in your house would be a nightmare, but they bring so much excitement and fun.”
She said her own two
children Mary Ann (5) and Barney (7) become smitten with the summer guests.
“When I was growing up on the island the weeks that the students would come was the highlight of the summer. I made great friends over the years,” she said.
While she will miss the income, Ms Grady said the island will be quiet without the teenagers, as will her home.
“The first thing I say to them when they arrive is ‘welcome home’, because this is their home for three weeks.
“They do become like part of your family. One group of girls, when they were leaving, bought me a chain with a heart on it with ‘mum’ in the middle. Teenagers don’t get half enough credit,” she said.
Alana Ní Chairáin was looking forward to being a ceannaire – a leader – at Magheraroarty, Co Donegal, one of two locations of Gael Linn summer courses.
The final-year pupil at St Catherine’s College, Armagh, first went to the Gaeltacht in 2014 and this was going to be her first time as a ceannaire.
“It’s heart-breaking” she said.
The friendships are what she will miss most.
“There are people who’ve been on my course since the first year. You’re as close with them as you are with your school friends because you’ve lived together.”