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100-460: Maud Gonne portrayed Cathleen ni Houlihan in the play's first performances at the Abbey Theatre . The play centres on the 1798 Rebellion . The play is startlingly nationalistic , in its last pages encouraging young men to sacrifice their lives for the heroine Cathleen ni Houlihan , who represents an independent and separate Irish state . The title character first appears as an old woman at

200-606: A pacifist , but it is the English who are forcing war on us, and the first principle of war is to kill the enemy." A second organisation, the National Council, was formed in 1903 by Gonne and others, including Arthur Griffith , on the occasion of the visit of King Edward VII to Dublin. Its purpose was to lobby Dublin Corporation to refrain from presenting an address to the king. The motion to present an address

300-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There

400-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of

500-575: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It

600-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,

700-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of

800-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in

900-530: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in

1000-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on

1100-509: A past vision of Irish independence which could be achieved in future. Maud Gonne Maud Gonne MacBride ( Irish : Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla Bhríghde ; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. She was of Anglo-Irish descent and was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of people evicted in the Land Wars . She actively agitated for home rule and then for

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1200-432: A queen," professing of those who fight for her: "They shall be remembered forever, They shall be alive forever, They shall be speaking forever, The people shall hear them forever." The premiere of Cathleen ni Houlihan initially confused Dublin audiences who had expected a comedic play due to the actor Willie Fay's prior association with comedies. However, Gonne's reputation as an ardent nationalist helped them to understand

1300-625: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by

1400-520: A supporter of the revanchist General Boulanger . Her relationship with Millevoye, who was sixteen years her senior, was both sexually and politically driven. With Boulanger he would redeem France by regaining Alsace-Lorraine . Her mission was Ireland, and together they would constitute an alliance against the British Empire . In December 1887 Maud Gonne inherited trust funds in excess of £13,000 and an unentailed sum from her mother's estate. She

1500-794: A tour of County Cork, seat of the most fervent revolutionary activity. Cork was under a Martial Law Area (MLA) prohibited to Irishmen and women outside the zone but the Viceroy's sister had a pass. In 1921, she opposed the Treaty and advocated the Republican side. The committee that set up White Cross in Ireland asked Gonne to join in January 1921 to distribute funds to victims administered by Cumann na mBan . She settled in Dublin in 1922. During

1600-545: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss

1700-763: A year later from heart disease. Gonne's son, Seán MacBride (1904–1988) was active in the IRA and in Irish republican politics. As Irish Foreign Minister (1948–1951) he was active the United Nations and helped secure ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights . He was later a founding member of Amnesty International and its Chairman, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974. Gonne died in Clonskeagh , aged 86, and

1800-451: A young girl who had "the walk of a queen." The play has themes of nationalism and blood sacrifice. Colm Tóibín describes Michael as an "idealistic, inspirational" male hero in the tradition of Lady Gregory's plays The Rising of the Moon and Gaol Gate, and the Irish mythological hero Cuchulainn , because he is willing to sacrifice his life for his newfound nationalistic beliefs, unaffected by

1900-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of

2000-647: Is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery , Dublin. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), 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

2100-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years

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2200-558: Is incontrovertible, and is apparent to all in the desperate scramble for markets, the restriction of output and destruction in almost every country of consumable goods, while millions of people who need these goods are allowed to starve." In the 1930s, she was involved in the Friends of Soviet Russia organisation. She met and was photographed with the Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose when he visited Ireland in 1936. Gonne

2300-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described

2400-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it

2500-666: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act

2600-623: The United Irishman newspaper on the occasion of a planned visit by Queen Victoria to Ireland. The newspaper was suppressed by the RIC but the article was republished in American newspapers. Gonne remained very active in Paris. In 1913, she established L'Irlande libre , a French newspaper. She wanted Cumann na mBan to be considered seriously: her idea was to get affiliation with

2700-625: The 17th Lancers , and his wife, Edith Frith Gonne, born Cook (1844–1871). After her mother died while Maud was still a child, her father sent her to a boarding school in France to be educated. "The Gonnes came from County Mayo , but my great-great grandfather was disinherited and sought fortune abroad trading in Spanish wine," she wrote. "My grandfather was head of a prosperous firm with houses in London and Oporto – he destined my father to take charge of

2800-613: The Irish Transvaal Brigade against the British in the Second Boer War . The following year their son Seán MacBride was born. Afterwards Gonne and her husband agreed to end their marriage. She demanded sole custody of their son, but MacBride refused, and a divorce case began in Paris on 28 February 1905. The only charge against MacBride substantiated in court was that he had been drunk on one occasion during

2900-535: The Ledaean Body ("Leda and the Swan" and "Among School Children"), Cathleen Ní Houlihan , Pallas Athene and Deirdre . Why should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways Or hurled the little streets upon the great. (from 'No second Troy', 1916) Yeats's 1893 poem "On a Child's Death" is thought to have been inspired by

3000-631: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")

3100-595: The republic declared in 1916 . During the 1930s, as a founding member of the Social Credit Party , she promoted the distributive programme of C. H. Douglas . Gonne was well known for being the muse and long-time love interest of Irish poet W. B. Yeats . She was born in England at Tongham near Aldershot , Hampshire, as Edith Maud Gonne , the eldest daughter of Captain Thomas Gonne (1835–1886) of

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3200-633: The "Irish Joan of Arc ", Gonne became known for her Irish republican views on a variety of contemporary social issues in Ireland. During the fin de siècle era, she supported Irish Catholic tenant farmers in their struggles against the Protestant Ascendancy and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) during the Land War . Gonne chaired several meetings of international groups to build sympathy for her causes among

3300-447: The "land-hunger" which occupies his family. Susan Cannon Harris contrasts the play's depiction of the "male patriot" who makes a blood sacrifice which "symbolically regenerates" Ireland, with the female peasant characters who face the arduous tasks of economic reality which make this regeneration possible. Michael abandons the everyday concerns of dowries, wedding clothes and land purchases in order to follow Cathleen and give up his life for

3400-634: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English

3500-436: The 1890s, Gonne travelled extensively throughout England, Wales, Scotland and the United States campaigning for the nationalist cause, forming an organisation called the "Irish League" ( L'association irlandaise ) in 1896. In 1900, Gonne helped found Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland). Twenty-nine women attended the first meeting. They decided to "combat in every way English influence doing so much injury to

3600-734: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as

3700-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of

3800-541: The 22-year-old Iseult who refused his advances. Many Dubliners had suspected that Yeats was her father. In 1920, she eloped to London with 17-year-old Irish-Australian Francis Stuart , who became a writer, and the couple later married. Iseult was not acknowledged as her mother's daughter in Maud Gonne's will when Gonne died in 1953, possibly due to pressure from her half-brother Seán MacBride who did not want to reveal Maud's relation to Millevoye. Iseult died less than

3900-399: The 23-year-old Iseult, who did not accept either. He had known her since she was four, and often referred to her as his darling child and took a paternal interest in her writings (many Dubliners wrongly suspected that Yeats was her father). Iseult considered the proposal, but finally turned him down, because he was not really in love with her and it would upset her mother too much. Known as

4000-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which

4100-571: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme

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4200-527: The American, British and French publics. During the Second Boer War , Gonne, along with a small group of republicans, supported the Boer republics by giving speeches and publishing newspaper articles advocating against Irish involvement in the war. Gonne became known for her eloquence in her political speeches and they were credited for animating the founding of new Irish nationalist organisations. In April 1900, Gonne wrote an article titled "The Famine Queen" for

4300-450: The British monarchy. Iseult Gonne (1894–1954), her daughter with Millevoye , was educated at a Carmelite convent in Laval , France. When she returned to Ireland she was referred to as Maud's niece or cousin rather than daughter. She was to attract the admiration of literary figures including Ezra Pound , Lennox Robinson and Liam O'Flaherty . In 1916, in his fifties, Yeats proposed to

4400-479: The British. She was already spending much of her time in Paris. In the same year, she joined the Roman Catholic Church . She refused many marriage proposals from Yeats, not only because he was unwilling to convert to Catholicism and because she viewed him as insufficiently radical in his nationalism , but also because she believed his unrequited love for her had been a boon for his poetry and that

4500-617: The English Red Cross, and wrote to Geneva to gain an international profile for the new nationalist organisation. In 1918, she was arrested in Dublin and imprisoned in England for six months. She worked with the Irish White Cross for the relief of victims of violence. Gonne moved in upper-class circles. Lord French's sister, Mrs Charlotte Despard was a famous suffragist, who was already a Sinn Feiner when she arrived in Dublin in 1920. She naturally accompanied Gonne on

4600-471: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish

4700-549: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but

4800-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,

4900-429: The arrival of new prisoners... we pestered the wardress and she told us there were four – Maud Gonne MacBride, her daughter Mrs Iseult Stuart and two lesser lights... Early this morning... we could see Maud walking majestically past our cell door leading on a leash a funny little lap dog which answered to the name that sounded like Wuzzo – Wuzzo. She was released on 28 April, after twenty days in custody. Months later

5000-559: The artistic taste and refinement of the Irish people." At the same time, she conceived Inghinidhe na hÉireann as a distinct voice for women in Irish affairs. In an early issue of Bean na hÉireann , the organisation's journal, the editorial proclaimed, "Our desire to have a voice in directing the affairs of Ireland is not based on the failure of men to do so properly, but is the inherent right of women as loyal citizens and intelligent human souls." In her autobiography she wrote, "I have always hated war and am by nature and philosophy

5100-693: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He

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5200-571: The death of Gonne's son Georges, whom Yeats thought Gonne had adopted . The poem was not published in Yeats's lifetime; scholars say he did not want the poem to be part of his canon, as it is of uneven quality. Maud Gonne MacBride published her autobiography in 1938, titled A Servant of the Queen , a reference to both a vision she had of the Irish queen of old, Kathleen Ni Houlihan and an ironic title considering Gonne's Irish Nationalism and rejection of

5300-622: The divorce papers submitted by Gonne nor Iseult's own writings mention any such incident, which is unsurprising, given the reticence of the times around such matters, but Francis Stuart, Iseult's later husband, attests to Iseult telling him about it. The allegation concerning Iseult was made by Maud to Anthony MacBride, John's brother. Though Maud omitted it from court proceedings, the MacBride side raised it in court to have John's name cleared. As Maud wrote to Yeats, MacBride succeeded in this. Yeats and some of his biographers have maintained that Iseult

5400-451: The door of a family celebrating their son's wedding. She describes her four "beautiful green fields," representing the four provinces , that have been unjustly taken from her. With little subtlety, she requests a blood sacrifice , declaring that "many a child will be born and there will be no father at the christening ". When the youth agrees and leaves the safety of his home to fight for her, she appears as an image of youth with "the walk of

5500-474: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as

5600-701: The extent of the damage done to her home at 75 St Stephen's Green, when soldiers from the National Army ransacked the place. Gonne was arrested and taken to Mountjoy Jail. On 9 November 1922, the Sinn Féin Office was raided in Suffolk street; the Free State had swept the capital, rounding up opposition committing them to prison for internment. The evidence comes from Margaret Buckley , who as Secretary of Sinn Féin acted as legal representative for

5700-560: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of

5800-618: The foreign business and had him educated abroad. My father spoke 6 languages but had little taste for business, so he got a commission in the English army; his gift for languages secured for him diplomatic appointments in Austria, the Balkans and Russia, and he was as much at home in Paris as in Dublin." In 1882, her father, an army officer, was posted to Dublin . She accompanied him and remained with him until his death in 1886. With her sister Kathleen, Gonne spent an unhappy time in London under

5900-422: The guardianship of their uncle William Gonne. Unaware that she would inherit a fortune on her majority, she tried to become an actress, but became ill with the tuberculosis that stayed with her throughout her life; in the summer of 1887 she went to the French spa town of Royat in the Auvergne to recover. In France, Gonne met Lucien Millevoye (1850–1918), a married journalist with fervid right-wing politics,

6000-528: 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 . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022

6100-498: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has

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6200-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of

6300-425: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,

6400-460: The marriage. A divorce was not granted, and MacBride was given the right to visit his son twice weekly. After the marriage ended, Gonne made allegations of domestic violence and, according to W. B. Yeats, of sexual molestation of Iseult, her daughter from a previous relationship, then aged 11. Critics have suggested that Yeats may have fabricated his allegations due to his hatred of MacBride over Maud's rejection of him in favour of MacBride. Neither

6500-399: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed

6600-497: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to

6700-433: The nationalist cause. Cannon Harris describes the significance of Maud Gonne's performance as Cathleen ni Houlihan in expressing the play's nationalist themes. Gonne's reputation as a nationalist campaigner and public speaker added to the play's popular appeal. Her disguise as an elderly woman illustrates that the Poor Old Woman is only a veneer who conceals the "uncorrupted essence" of Irish freedom. Nicholas Grene examines

6800-409: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them

6900-522: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as

7000-439: The originator of social credit economics , Major C.H. Douglas . In the Irish Independent in 1936, Gonne criticised Ernest Blythe's denunciation of social credit economics. Opening, she wrote; "I read with amazement the report of Mr. Blythe's broadcast attack on Social Credit. Major Douglas's contention that production has outstripped distribution with disastrous results of unemployment and starvation, tending to war and anarchy

7100-448: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish

7200-557: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After

7300-492: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )

7400-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need

7500-712: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in

7600-457: The same father, to whom the soul of Georges would transmigrate in metempsychosis . Gonne's daughter by Millevoye, Iseult Gonne , was born in August 1894. Gonne MacBride is known for having had anti-Semitic views. Historian D. G. Boyce described her as "noisily anti-Semitic." The Dictionary of Irish Biography states that she believed in anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic theories. During

7700-557: The strangers who stole them. Neighbours enter the house and Patrick tells his family that the French ships have landed at Killala bay. The 1798 Rebellion is taking place. Michael is enchanted by Cathleen's words and vows to join the French army, abandoning his parents and his fiancée despite their pleas. Cathleen leaves, saying that "They shall be speaking for ever, / The people shall hear them forever." Peter asks his son Patrick if he saw an old woman leaving, but Patrick tells him that he saw

7800-807: The street battles she headed a delegation called The Women's Peace Committee which approached the Dáil leadership, and her old friend Arthur Griffith . But they were unable to stop the indiscriminate shooting of civilians, being more interested in law and order. In August she set up a similar organisation, the Women's Prisoner's Defence League. The prisons were brutal and many women were locked up in men's prisons. The League supported families wanting news of inmates. They worked for prisoners rights, began vigils, and published stories of tragic deaths. Through her friendship with Despard and opposition to government they were labeled "Mad and Madame Desperate". Historians have related

7900-479: The trope of "strangers in the house" which is used in different contexts throughout the play. The British invaders have stolen Cathleen Ni Houlihan's land and exiled her, forcing her to wander the roads in search of help. The French invaders are seen as "necessary catalysts" for the banishment of the British, while Cathleen herself is a disrupting presence when she visits the Gillane family's home and presents them with

8000-711: The upcoming marriage between their son Michael and his fiancée Delia. Peter and Bridget are concerned with obtaining Delia's dowry. They hear cheering outside but are unconcerned with its cause. Michael enters and tells his parents that he has visited the priest to arrange the wedding ceremony for the following day. He gives the dowry to his parents. The family is visited by a mysterious old woman. She tells them that her "four beautiful green fields" have been stolen from her. She sings about patriots who have died for Ireland and reveals herself as Cathleen Ni Houlihan. She tells them that many men have died for her and that more must make sacrifices in order to help her regain her fields and banish

8100-671: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at

8200-402: The women but there was nothing prudish about their concerted opposition to civil rights abuses. On 10 April 1923, Gonne was arrested. The charges were: 1) painting banners for seditious demonstrations, and 2) preparing anti-government literature. According to the diary account of her colleague Hannah Moynihan : Last night [10th April] at 11pm, we heard the commotion which usually accompanies

8300-412: The women spread a rumour that Nell Ryan had died in custody in order to gain a propaganda victory. Women continued to be arrested. On 1 June Gonne was standing in protest outside Kilmainham Jail with Dorothy Macardle , the writer and activist, and Iseult Stuart. They were supporting hunger striker Máire Comerford . Again the source for this story seems to be fellow ex-prisoner Hannah Moynihan. Gonne

8400-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By

8500-516: The world should thank her for never having accepted his proposals. When Yeats told her he was not happy without her, she replied, Oh yes, you are, because you make beautiful poetry out of what you call your unhappiness and are happy in that. Marriage would be such a dull affair. Poets should never marry. The world should thank me for not marrying you. In Paris in 1903, after having turned down at least four marriage proposals from Yeats between 1891 and 1901, Maud married Major John MacBride , who had led

8600-528: The “tragic meaning” of her role, as described by Yeats. By the third night the theatre was so crowded that customers had to be turned away. Yeats later expressed reservations about the play's nationalistic rhetoric of blood sacrifice, asking in a later poem, "The Man and the Echo," "Did that play of mine send out / Certain men the English shot?" The play is set in Killala in 1798. The Gillane family are discussing

8700-465: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to

8800-503: Was a muse for Yeats. Many of Yeats's poems are inspired by her, or mention her, such as "This, This Rude Knocking." He wrote the plays The Countess Cathleen and Cathleen ni Houlihan for her. Few poets have celebrated a woman's beauty to the extent Yeats did in his lyric verse about Gonne. From his second book to Last Poems , she became the Rose , Helen of Troy (in No second Troy ),

8900-629: Was a leading figure in the Catholic monetary reform movement in Ireland in the 1930s. Formed in 1932 as the Financial Freedom Federation, they became the Irish Social Credit Party in late 1935 and Gonne MacBride was a prominent member of the group throughout the 1930s. They were committed to reforming Ireland's financial and economic systems by way of instituting reforms laid out in the inter-war period by

9000-557: Was a very wealthy woman and was free to live as she pleased. She travelled early in 1888 on a clandestine Boulangist mission to Russia, where she met the notable Pall Mall Gazette editor W. T. Stead , who wrote of meeting in St Petersburg "one of the most beautiful women of the world" ( Review of Reviews , 7 June 1892). She returned to Ireland and worked for the release of Irish political prisoners from jail. In 1889, she first met W. B. Yeats , who fell in love with her. Gonne

9100-595: Was a victim, and have omitted the court incident. MacBride visited his son as allowed for a short time, but returned to Ireland and never saw him again. Gonne raised the boy in Paris. MacBride was executed in May 1916 along with James Connolly and other leaders of the Easter Rising . After MacBride's death Gonne felt that she could safely return to live permanently in Ireland. In 1917, Yeats, in his fifties, proposed first to Maud Gonne, who turned him down, and then to

9200-531: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from

9300-538: Was attracted to the occultist and spiritualist worlds deeply important to Yeats, asking his friends about the reality of reincarnation . In 1891 she briefly joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , an occultist organisation with which Yeats had involved himself. In 1890, in France she again met Millevoye. They had a son, Georges, but the child died within the year, possibly of meningitis . Gonne

9400-474: Was distraught, and buried him in a large memorial chapel. (Her distress remained with her; in her will she asked for Georges's baby shoes to be interred with her). After the child's death, she separated from Millevoye, but in late 1893 arranged to meet him at the mausoleum in Samois-sur-Seine and, next to their child's sarcophagus, they had sexual intercourse. Her purpose was to conceive a baby with

9500-439: Was duly defeated, but the National Council remained in existence as a pressure group with the aim of increasing nationalist representation on local councils. The first annual convention of the National Council on 28 November 1905 was notable for two things: the decision, by a majority vote (with Griffith dissenting), to open branches and organise on a national basis; and the presentation by Griffith of his 'Hungarian' policy, which

9600-668: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build

9700-548: Was now called the Sinn Féin policy. This meeting is usually taken as the date of the foundation of the Sinn Féin party. In 1897, along with Yeats and Griffith, she organised protests against Queen Victoria 's Diamond Jubilee . In April 1902, she took a leading role in Yeats's play Cathleen Ní Houlihan . She portrayed Cathleen, the "old woman of Ireland", who mourns for her four provinces which had been "lost" to

9800-474: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in

9900-693: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in

10000-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,

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