74-524: Clonakilty ( / ˈ k l ɔː n æ ˌ k ɪ l t iː / ; Irish : Cloich na Coillte , meaning 'stone (castle) of the woods'), sometimes shortened to Clon , is a town in County Cork , Ireland. The town is at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population was 4,946 at the 2022 census . The town is a tourism hub in West Cork , and
148-720: A bypass road on the N71 , to the south of the town, which routes traffic to Cork, Kinsale , Bandon , Skibbereen and Dunmanway via the R599 , just west of the town, or vice versa to the R588 via Enniskean and the town centre. Clonakilty's bars host live music nights throughout the year, and De Barra's Folk Club, Shanley's Music Bar, and O'Donovans and are among the town's music venues. De Barra's Folk Club has featured acts like Christy Moore , Sharon Shannon , Roy Harper , John Spillane and Frances Black . A number of notable musicians live in
222-547: 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
296-717: 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
370-575: 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
444-534: A castle called Coyltes Castell was recorded in a 1378 plea roll. This was subsequently referred to as Cloghnykyltye, one of the many phonetic spellings for Cloch na gCoillte (meaning the castle of the woods, from cloch , the Irish for stone or stone building, and coillte meaning woods). The lands around Clonakilty were owned by Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork , and it was Lord Cork ('the Great Earl') who obtained its charter from James I in 1613, with
518-478: 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,
592-553: 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
666-460: 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
740-412: A museum (opened in 2016). In April 1943, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was travelling from Morocco to England when it was forced to land at a marsh just outside Clonakilty. The crew (who were uninjured) thought they had been flying over German-occupied Norway . Kennedy Gardens at Emmet Square (formerly Shannon Square) in the centre of town is named after John F. Kennedy . In June 2012, Clonakilty
814-585: 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
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#1732773293266888-575: 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
962-625: 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
1036-545: 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
1110-417: Is a mile and a half long, and bounded by dunes at Castlefreke (a protected Special Area of Conservation ). Duneen Beach is across the bay from the right-hand side of Inchydoney beach. Clonakilty has been twinned with: 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
1184-452: 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
1258-511: 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
1332-587: 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
1406-588: 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 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
1480-412: 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
1554-666: 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
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#17327732932661628-605: The 2011 census captured a population that was 80.5% Catholic, 10% other stated religions, 8.5% with no religion, and 0.5% not stated. The town is known for its black pudding . Clonakilty black pudding originated in Edward Twomey's butcher shop in Pearse Street. The secret spice recipe has been handed down through the generations since the 1880s, and is still known only to the Twomey family who continue to manufacture
1702-630: 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 . Today, Irish
1776-631: 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 ")
1850-426: The West Cork area to the present day. In 1292, Thomas De Roach received a charter to hold a market every Monday at Kilgarriffe (then called Kyle Cofthy or Cowhig's Wood), close to where the present town now stands. In the 14th century, a ten-mile strip of fallow woodland called Tuath na gCoillte (the land of the woods) divided the barony of Ibane (Ardfield) and Barryroe and reached the sea at Clonakilty Bay. Here
1924-634: 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
1998-789: 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
2072-703: The 2003 competition. Clonakilty GAA won their first adult hurling county title when they won the Cork Minor B Hurling Championship in 2007. Clonakilty R.F.C. also became a senior rugby club in 2001 and spent 12 years in the All-Ireland League until they were relegated to Division 1 of the Munster Junior League. Clonakilty A.F.C. won the Beamish Cup in 2008 & 1995 and in 2014 featured Australian international, Alex Swift. Students of
2146-403: 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
2220-571: 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
2294-617: The Bandon Foot to garrison Clonakilty before leaving the town to relieve Rathbarry Castle , which was under siege by rebel forces. However, almost immediately after Lord Forbes left Clonakilty, a large force of Catholic rebels attacked the town; the two Scottish companies refused to retreat and were killed to a man, while the Irish company fought their way out of the town to an abandoned ringfort near Rosscarbery , where they were relieved by Lord Forbes who had returned from Rathbarry . The reunified force returned to Clonakilty and drove out
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2368-677: The Boyle dynasty. They remained the main landlords of the town from the eighteenth century until the early twentieth century. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641 , Protestant settlers in Clonakilty fled to Bandon , and much of Clonakilty was burned by Catholic rebels . On October 1642, a Protestant force led by the then Lord Forbes reoccupied the town. Forbes left two companies from the Lord Forbes' Regiment and one company from
2442-549: The Clonakilty "Warrior Tae Kwon Do" club compete in Tae Kwon Do , Kickboxing and Freestyle tournaments and the club has produced 4 World Champions in several martial arts disciplines. The closest Blue Flag beach is at Inchydoney Island , immediately to the south of the town. Approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Clonakilty, and looking out over the Galley Head lighthouse , is Long Strand. This sandy beach
2516-471: 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
2590-549: 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
2664-620: 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 ,
2738-780: The area. For example, Noel Redding made Clonakilty his home, as has singer-songwriter Roy Harper . English novelist David Mitchell also calls Clonakilty home. The town also hosts several festivals every year, including the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival in mid-September, the Motion Festival and the Waterfront Festival in August. The town won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1999 and
2812-746: 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
2886-474: 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
2960-560: 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
3034-716: 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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3108-410: 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
3182-476: 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 ,
3256-721: The local boys' national school. Collins later served as Chairman of the Provisional Government of Ireland and was instrumental in the founding of the Irish Free State . Collins was killed in an ambush by the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War . He gave several orations from O'Donovan's Hotel on the Main Street of Clonakilty. On Emmet Square, where Collins lived for a period, is a statue of Michael Collins (erected and dedicated in 2002) and
3330-582: 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
3404-804: 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
3478-469: 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
3552-655: 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
3626-624: 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 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
3700-503: 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
3774-557: 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
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#17327732932663848-456: The pudding at the Clonakilty Food Company. The Model Village in Clonakilty is a tourist destination in the area and includes fully scaled models of Clonakilty and nearby towns – built on a miniature of the area's railway line. Michael Collins House is a museum dedicated to the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins . The museum is set out in a restored Georgian townhouse on Emmet Square, where Collins lived from 1903 to 1905. The museum tells
3922-400: The rebels, who fled towards the island of Inchydoney , where roughly six hundred of them drowned at high tide. Lord Forbes' men returned to the town and freed a large number of men, women and children imprisoned in Clonakilty's market house. The town was also the site of a battle in 1691 during the Williamite War in Ireland . During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , Shannonvale near Clonakilty
3996-436: 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 )
4070-432: 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
4144-452: 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
4218-408: The right to return members to the Irish House of Commons . The borough of Clonakilty returned two members from 1613 to 1801; it was disfranchised when the Act of Union came into force in January 1801. It also had a part-time judge, the Recorder of Clonakilty , who held a weekly court of Petty session . The estate lands at Clonakilty were later purchased by the Earls of Shannon , another branch of
4292-427: The story of Collins' life and the history of Irish independence through tours, exhibits, interactive displays, and historical artefacts. A "Random Acts of Kindness Festival" was set up by the local Clonakilty Macra na Feirme Club. The 2012 event ran over a weekend in July. Clonakilty Street Carnival takes place in June of each year, and involves live music, activities and other events. Other historical attractions in
4366-407: The summer months, there is a bus link to Killarney via the N71 road through Skibbereen, Bantry , Glengarriff and Kenmare . Clonakilty was one of the destinations on the West Cork Railway , an Irish mainline railway from Cork city to various parts of West Cork , which shut down in 1961. Clonakilty railway station opened on 28 August 1886, but finally closed on 1 April 1961. Clonakilty has
4440-415: The town include the Clonakilty Museum, the Georgian houses of Emmet Square and the Michael Collins Centre which is located a few miles east of the town. A Farmers Market takes place at Emmet Square every Friday. There are two secondary schools located in the town. Clonakilty Community College is a mixed school and the Sacred Heart Secondary School is an all-girls school. There are 4 Primary Schools located in
4514-452: The town. Clonakilty Agricultural College is located 2 miles east of the town. It is known locally as Darrara College and mainly deals with Agricultural Education. Clonakilty has a GAA club ( Clonakilty GAA ), two soccer clubs (Clonakilty A.F.C, Clonakilty Town), a Rugby union club ( Clonakilty R.F.C. ) and a Martial Arts club (Warrior Tae Kwon Do). The GAA team won the Cork Senior Football Championship in 2009, 1996, and were runners-up in
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#17327732932664588-536: 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
4662-594: 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
4736-474: Was also named 'Ireland's Tidiest Small Town' in 2012, 2017 and 2022. In 2003, Clonakilty became Ireland's first-ever Fairtrade Town . In 2007, it was awarded the status of 'European Destination of Excellence' by the European Commission at a ceremony in Portugal and is Ireland's first recipient of this title. As of the 2011 census , ethnically Clonakilty was 80% white Irish, 14% "other white", 1.5% black, 1.5% Asian, and 2% other or not stated. In terms of religion,
4810-431: 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
4884-403: Was damaged by flooding. Clonakilty was founded on 5 May 1613, and on 5 May 2013, President Michael D. Higgins and his wife visited the town to commemorate 400 years since it obtained its original charter. Kilgarriffe Church , a Church of Ireland church, was built in 1818 to replace an older building which dated from 1613. The Church of the Immaculate Conception, a large Catholic church,
4958-468: Was designed by George Ashlin and built in 1880 in the Early French Gothic style. The old Presbyterian Church was built in 1861 and taken over and used since 1924 as a local Post Office. The local Methodist church is located in the town and became the first church in Ireland to win two Eco Congregation Ireland awards. The nearest airport to the town is Cork Airport , and Bus Éireann provides coach links from Clonakilty to Cork and Skibbereen . During
5032-425: 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
5106-424: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Battle of
5180-403: 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
5254-427: Was recognised as the "Best Town in Europe" in 2017, and "Best Place of the Year" in 2017 by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland . Clonakilty is in the Dáil constituency of Cork South-West , which has three seats. The Clonakilty area has a number of ancient and pre-Celtic sites, including Lios na gCon ringfort. Norman settlers built castles around Clonakilty, and a number of Norman surnames survive in
5328-693: 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
5402-912: Was the site of the Battle of the Big Cross . It was described as "the only place in all Munster where a blow of some sort had been struck during the Rising of '98". There is a commemorative statue celebrating the Battle of the Big Cross in Asna Square in the centre of Clonakilty. Michael Collins , who was the Director of Intelligence for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence , lived in Clonakilty and attended
5476-442: 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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