Group is hoping Irish revival will keep growing with more support
IT IS not uncommon nowadays to hear Irish being spoken on Enniskillen’s main street or in many of the town’s coffee shops. More than likely, they are the gaeilgeoiri (fluent Irish speakers) who attend Irish language-themed activities organised voluntarily by the Enniskillen-based Sruth na héirne (Flow of the Erne) group, which is a representative branch of Conradh na Gaeilge, an Irish language advocacy body.
Its Chair, Jim Ledwith, points to a first ever paid membership of 35 people from all over the county, of whom 20 are active participants.
“Weekly classes, conversation circles, public educational events and field trips for members all feature in their busy annual calendar. Just over 200 adults attended their programme in the recent Autumn semester,” he explained.
Mary Bogue, from Kinawley, would be typical of most members, being on a personal journey of language learning.
Also attending a variety of classes throughout the county, Mary feels the language embraces many aspects of life, from townland names, history and culture.
However, she emphasises the need to pass it on, and is actively involving members of her own family in the speaking of the language.
Whilst Sruth na héirne has all the appearances of a social club for senior people with spare time to re-immerse themselves in language learning, its priority in 2024 is focused on youth engagement and language promotion.
As a member, Roisin Mcquaid from Lisnarick has got involved by leading the teaching of its new youth club (Club Oíge) on Friday afternoons after school at Fermanagh House.
“For me, the language is awe-inspiring. It’s who we are as a people, with all its history and culture.
“Young people can absorb so much and are adept at being bilingual,” she added.
For teenager Lorcan Connor from Brookeborough, who also co-leads the teaching of young teenagers and children at Fermanagh House, he claims he is seen as being “cool” by being able to speak Irish fluently, having attended Bunscoil an Traonaigh in
Lisnaskea.
Just as important, Lorcan loves the amount of support young people give each other when becoming involved and immersed in the Irish language movement.
Maguiresbridge woman, Breege Mcaloon, admits to having zero Irish, but loves seeing her children learning their native tongue, and how quickly they “soak up” the lessons at the Club Oíge.
“It will open up so many opportunities for them in terms of career and travel,” she said.
“Also, being taught by two young people helps a lot, as they just bounce ideas off each other.”
A long-time teacher of Irish to adults since he retired, P. J. Fox says what is happening in Enniskillen is positive and small-scale but represents only the first step on the ladder of revival.
“For me, Irish is my native language, and therefore a revival is needed, together with a focus on leadership, but this time with more youth involved.
“What I witness throughout Fermanagh is a revival in certain areas but it’s isolated and very much dependent on a few leaders,” he added.
Jim Ledwith, Sruth na héirne’s current Chair, accepts the comments made by P. J., but states that if there is to be a revival, co-operation from different strands of the community will be needed to make it work.
He said: “I take P. J.’s comments on the chin! It’s a brutally honest take on the current state of play.
“However, whatever future revival is taking place needs schools, community-based groups and the two arms of the Council – the Executive arm [management] and its councillors – to all work together.
“It’s [Irish language revival] far too haphazard and piecemeal at present. I personally take my inspiration of community-led language revival from what is happening both in Trillick and Dromore.
“They are a sight to behold, and all being undertaken voluntarily at that.
“There is and has been for years a strategic need for locally-based Irish tutors, and for the life of me I just cannot tolerate the lack of urgency there is by the two arms of the Council to even start and seek the available financial support from the Shared Island funding,” he claimed.
“If applied for and eventually secured, [such funding] would financially justify and allow the University of Ulster to locate the universally-recognised Diploma in Irish here in Fermanagh, attracting potential tutors from both sides of the Border.
“It’s both criminal and inhumane to expect people from all parts of Fermanagh to have to travel to Cookstown to undertake this part-time course, which is held on evenings mostly through the dead of winter. It is so, so wrong, and tragic on so many levels.
“For a county that has a longterm shortage of Irish language tutors, the provision of a recognised diploma as soon as possible is a strategic must-dobetter necessity.
“The sooner this process begins, the better we can serve the growing Irish language needs of citizens,” he added.
Sruth na héirne were busy organising Seactain na Gaeilge (Irish language week) events during early March which, this year, featured Irish language students from St. Michael’s College and Mount Lourdes meeting for the first time the adult gaeilgeori of Sruth na héirne at Fermanagh House.
Also planned was a joint meeting of gaeilgeoiri between Sligo and Fermanagh following introductory meetings last summer, with one eye being cast on future Shared Island funding for working partnerships to progress the agenda of language accessibility in disadvantaged, remote Border areas.
Anne Mcclean, the group’s Treasurer, claimed she always had some Irish, but re-immersed herself in learning it on retirement by attending Council classes at the Enniskillen Museum.
However, it was only on joining Sruth na héirne’s activities in Autumn, 2022, that her self confidence in the practical use of Irish has grown, and she puts this down in part to the social side of the organisation.
“I find myself now chatting in Irish with new friends from Sruth in places such as Erneside and cafés, and it’s so lively doing this that I surprise myself.”
For Jim Ledwith, the learning and speaking of Irish is addictive. “I just can’t get enough of it! I am really addicted and jump at any chance to learn, speak and constantly improve on it, pure and simple.”
He also sees the same trait with many local Irish language enthusiasts.
“My prized possession is a simple paper certificate for fluency received at 14 years of age more than 50 years ago when I earned my own monies with part-time jobs to attend the Gaeltacht for eight years on the trot, staying for a period of three and a half weeks each time,” he concluded, showing the significance and depth of devotion to the island’s native tongue by him and a growing number of people in the area.