108-539: Benbulbin ( Irish : Binn Ghulbain ), sometimes Benbulben or Ben Bulben , is a large flat-topped nunatak rock formation in County Sligo , Ireland. It is part of the Dartry Mountains , in an area sometimes called " Yeats Country". Benbulbin is a protected site, designated as a County Geological Site by Sligo County Council. "Benbulbin", "Benbulben" and "Ben Bulben" are all anglicisations of
216-518: A subspecies that lived in Europe during the last ice age , which was described in 1875 by Alphonse Milne-Edwards from finds in southwest France. "Chough" was originally an alternative onomatopoeic name for the jackdaw Coloeus monedula , based on its call. The similar red-billed species, formerly particularly common in Cornwall, became known initially as "Cornish chough" and then just "chough",
324-547: 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
432-610: A 43% chance of surviving their first year, and the annual survival rate of adults is about 80%. Choughs generally have a lifespan of about seven years, although an age of 17 years has been recorded. The temperature and rainfall in the months preceding breeding correlates with the number of young fledging each year and their survival rate. Chicks fledging under good conditions are more likely to survive to breeding age, and have longer breeding lives than those fledging under poor conditions. The red-billed chough's food consists largely of insects, spiders and other invertebrates taken from
540-717: 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
648-575: 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
756-478: 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,
864-553: 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
972-460: 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
1080-507: A large "NO" sign, severely impacting the iconic view. Sligo County Council responded on social media with the following statement , " As the land where the lettering was placed is commonage, Sligo County Council has no role in this matter ". The sign was removed the next day. The athlete Mary Cullen is from nearby Drumcliffe . Andy "The Bull" McSharry , involved in a famous 17-year-long dispute over allowing access rights over his land, lives near Benbulbin. Benbulbin features prominently in
1188-494: A lower elevation than the Alpine chough, that species having a diet better adapted to high altitudes. The red-billed chough breeds from three years of age, and normally raises only one brood a year, although the age at first breeding is greater in large populations. A pair exhibits strong mate and site fidelity once a bond is established. The bulky nest is composed of roots and stems of heather , furze or other plants, and
SECTION 10
#17327876368711296-484: A military aircraft. On 21 March 1941, an RAF Catalina flying boat (AM265) using the Donegal Corridor crashed into the mountain at Glenade, County Leitrim on the east side of Truskmore. All nine airmen aboard died in the crash. In the 1970s and 1980s, Sinn Féin had engaged in a slogan campaign around the theme 'Brits out of Ireland'. Roads and walls throughout Ireland had been marked with these slogans as
1404-585: 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
1512-575: 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
1620-625: 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
1728-547: 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 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
1836-592: A study in Spain showed that the prevalence was less than one percent, and unlikely to affect the life history and conservation of this species. These low levels of parasitism contrast with a much higher prevalence in some other passerine groups; for example a study of thrushes in Russia showed that all the fieldfares , redwings and song thrushes sampled carried haematozoans, particularly Haemoproteus and Trypanosoma . Red-billed choughs can also carry mites , but
1944-437: A study of the feather mite Gabucinia delibata , acquired by young birds a few months after fledging when they join communal roosts, suggested that this parasite actually improved the body condition of its host. It is possible that the feather mites enhance feather cleaning and deter pathogens , and may complement other feather care measures such as sunbathing, and anting —rubbing the plumage with ants (the formic acid from
2052-545: 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
2160-503: Is 39–40 centimetres (15–16 inches) in length, has a 73–90 centimetres (29–35 inches) wingspan, and weighs an average 310 grammes (10.9 oz). Its plumage is velvet-black, green-glossed on the body, and it has a long curved red bill and red legs. The sexes are similar (although adults can be sexed in the hand using a formula involving tarsus length and bill width ) but the juvenile has an orange bill and pink legs until its first autumn, and less glossy plumage. The red-billed chough
2268-469: Is 5.5 kilometres (3 mi) in length and takes approximately 1.5 hours to walk. Benbulbin hosts a variety of plants, including some found nowhere else in Ireland. Many are Arctic–alpine species, due to the mountain's height, which allows for cooler temperature at altitude than the surrounding terrain. These plants are believed to have evolved and established themselves just after the glaciers that formed Benbulbin had receded. In 2012, research revealed that
SECTION 20
#17327876368712376-603: 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 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
2484-528: Is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax . Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the western coasts of Ireland and Britain east through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China. This bird has glossy black plumage, a long curved red bill, red legs, and a loud, ringing call. It has a buoyant acrobatic flight with widely spread primaries . The red-billed chough pairs for life and displays fidelity to its breeding site, which
2592-452: 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
2700-529: Is an established walking destination. If climbed by the north face, it is a hazardous climb. That side bears the brunt of the high winds and storms that come in from the Atlantic Ocean. However, if approached by the south side, it is an easy walk, since that side slopes very gently. From the summit there are views over the coastal plain of north County Sligo and the Atlantic ocean. The land adjacent to
2808-453: Is derived from Greek πυρρός (pyrrhos) , "flame-coloured", and κόραξ (korax) , "raven". The only other member of the genus is the Alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus ; hybrids with Alpine chough are known. Traditionally, the closest relatives of the choughs have been thought to be the typical crows Corvus and the jackdaws Coloeus , but more recent genetic studies have suggested
2916-511: 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
3024-532: Is intermediate between the two subspecies. Detailed analysis of call similarity suggests that the Asiatic and Ethiopian races diverged from the western subspecies early in evolutionary history, and that Italian red-billed choughs are more closely allied to the North African subspecies than to those of the rest of Europe. There is one known prehistoric form of the red-billed chough. P. p. primigenius ,
3132-797: Is lined with wool or hair; in central Asia, the hair may be taken from live Himalayan tahr . The nest is constructed in a cave or similar fissure in a crag or cliff face. In soft sandstone, the birds themselves excavate holes nearly a metre deep. Old buildings may be used, and in Tibet working monasteries provide sites, as occasionally do modern buildings in Mongolian towns, including Ulaanbaatar . The red-billed chough will utilise other artificial sites, such as quarries and mineshafts for nesting where they are available. The chough lays three to five eggs 3.9 by 2.8 centimetres (1.5 by 1.1 inches) in size and weighing 15.7 grammes (0.55 oz), of which 6%
3240-474: Is not threatened globally. The red-billed chough, which derived its common name 'chough' from the jackdaw , was formerly associated with fire-raising, and has links with Saint Thomas Becket and Cornwall . The red-billed chough was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Upupa pyrrhocorax . It was moved to its current genus, Pyrrhocorax , by Marmaduke Tunstall in his 1771 Ornithologia Britannica . The genus name
3348-587: 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
Benbulbin - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-560: Is shell. They are spotted, not always densely, in various shades of brown and grey on a creamy or slightly tinted ground. The egg size is independent of the clutch size and the nest site, but may vary between different females. The female incubates for 17–18 days before the altricial downy chicks are hatched, and is fed at the nest by the male. The female broods the newly hatched chicks for around ten days, and then both parents share feeding and nest sanitation duties. The chicks fledge 31–41 days after hatching. Juveniles have
3564-412: 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
3672-540: Is therefore evaluated as least concern . However, the European range has declined and fragmented due to the loss of traditional pastoral farming, persecution and perhaps disturbance at breeding and nesting sites, although the numbers in France , Great Britain and Ireland may now have stabilised. The European breeding population is between 12,265 and 17,370 pairs, but only in Spain is the species still widespread. Since in
3780-424: Is unlikely to be confused with any other species of bird. Although the jackdaw and Alpine chough share its range, the jackdaw is smaller and has unglossed grey plumage, and the Alpine chough has a short yellow bill. Even in flight, the two choughs can be distinguished by Alpine's less rectangular wings, and longer, less square-ended tail. The red-billed chough's loud, ringing chee-ow call is clearer and louder than
3888-422: Is usually a cave or crevice in a cliff face. It builds a wool-lined stick nest and lays three eggs. It feeds, often in flocks, on short grazed grassland, taking mainly invertebrate prey. Although it is subject to predation and parasitism, the main threat to this species is changes in agricultural practices, which have led to population decline, some local extinction and range fragmentation in Europe; however, it
3996-449: Is usually shown "proper", with tinctures as in nature. Since the 14th century, St Thomas Becket (d.1170), Archbishop of Canterbury , has retrospectively acquired an attributed coat of arms consisting of three Cornish choughs on a white field, although as he died 30 to 45 years before the start of the age of heraldry, in reality he bore no arms. These attributed arms appear in many English churches dedicated to him. The symbolism behind
4104-666: 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
4212-547: The Countess Markiewicz riding past it to political meetings. Yeats's famous poem, Under Ben Bulben , is essentially a description of Yeats Country. It describes the sights that he saw in Yeats Country. The following is an excerpt from Under Ben Bulben : Under bare Ben Bulben's head In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid. An ancestor was rector there Long years ago, a church stands near, By
4320-619: The Dartry Mountains as a whole, are composed of limestones on top of mudstones . These rocks formed in the area approximately 345-330 million years ago in the Viséan Stage of the Carboniferous Period . The environment was a shallow sea. Uppermost in the limestone layer is a thicker, harder limestone called the Dartry Limestone Formation. Below this is a thinner transitional limestone formation –
4428-633: The Glencar Limestone Formation . Further down, the lower slopes consist of shaly mudstone known as the Benbulben Shale Formation. Scree deposits are found near the base. Fossils exist throughout the layers of the mountains. All layers have many fossilised sea shells. The shale layer also holds some corals. Baryte was mined at Glencarbury near Benbulbin in the Dartry range between 1894 and 1979. Benbulbin
Benbulbin - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-631: 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 ")
4644-647: The fringed sandwort found growing on Benbulbin (found nowhere else in the country) has, indeed, been present since the last ice age ; the endemic plants are thought to be collectively around 100,000 years old. This discovery reopens the debate over whether or not Ireland's ecology, as we know it today, predates the Ice Age. Other notable flora found on Benbulbin includes Alpine saxifrage , Arabidopsis spp., arctic meadow-rue , bluebells , Meconopsis spp., Poa alpina , Polystichum lonchitis , and snowbed willow . Wild badger , hare and red fox may be seen in
4752-634: 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
4860-789: 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
4968-403: 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
5076-571: 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
5184-486: The Benbulbin's slopes. In the end, all were killed, allegedly after they had surrendered. They are known as the "Noble Six". Brigadier Seamus Devins TD , Div. Adj. Brian MacNeill, Capt. Harry Benson, Lieut. Paddy Carroll, Vols. Tommy Langan and Joe Banks were those killed on the mountain. The six anti-treaty fighters were hunted down on the slopes of Benbulbin and put to death by Free State forces which were out to avenge
5292-769: The Canary Islands, across southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin, the Alps , and in mountainous country across Central Asia , India and China, with two separate populations in the Ethiopian Highlands. It is a non-migratory resident throughout its range. Its main habitat is high mountains; it is found between 2,000 and 2,500 metres (6,600 and 8,200 ft) in North Africa, and mainly between 2,400 and 3,000 metres (7,900 and 9,800 ft) in
5400-471: 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
5508-545: The Himalayas. In that mountain range it reaches 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) in the summer, and has been recorded at 7,950 metres (26,080 feet) altitude on Mount Everest . In the British Isles and Brittany it also breeds on coastal sea cliffs, feeding on adjacent short grazed grassland or machair . It was formerly more widespread on coasts but has suffered from the loss of its specialised habitat. It tends to breed at
SECTION 50
#17327876368715616-549: 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
5724-499: The Irish name "Binn Ghulbain". "Binn" means "peak" or "mountain"; "ghulbain" may mean beak or jaw, or may refer to Conall Gulban , a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages , who was associated with the mountain. Benbulbin was shaped during the ice age , when Ireland was under glaciers . Originally it was a large plateau. Glaciers moving from the northeast to southwest shaped it into its present distinct formation. Benbulbin, and
5832-620: 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 ,
5940-482: The area. The formation also hosts a population of red-billed chough —birds with a similar appearance to crows, ravens and other Corvids , albeit with bright red bills. Benbulbin is the setting of several Irish legends . It is said to be one of the hunting grounds of the Fianna , a band of warriors who are said to have lived in the 3rd century. One example is the story of The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne , in which
6048-431: The association is not known for certain. According to one legend, a chough strayed into Canterbury Cathedral during Becket's murder, while another suggests that the choughs are a canting reference to Becket's name, as they were once known as "beckits". However the latter theory does not stand up to scrutiny, as the use of the term "beckit" to mean a chough is not found before the 19th century. Regardless of its origin,
6156-746: 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
6264-405: The body of a red-billed chough, the red colour of its bill and legs being derived from the blood of the last battle and hence killing this bird was unlucky. Legend also holds that after the last Cornish chough departs from Cornwall, then the return of the chough, as happened in 2001, will mark the return of King Arthur. In English heraldry the bird is always blazoned as "a Cornish chough" and
6372-434: The cache with a few pebbles. The red-billed chough's predators include the peregrine falcon , golden eagle and Eurasian eagle-owl , while the common raven will take nestlings. In northern Spain , red-billed choughs preferentially nest near lesser kestrel colonies. This small insectivorous falcon is better at detecting a predator and more vigorous in defence than its corvid neighbours. The breeding success of
6480-435: The chough is still used in heraldry as a symbol of Becket, and appears in the arms of several persons and institutions associated with him, most notably in the arms of the city of Canterbury . Up to the eighteenth century, the red-billed chough was associated with fire-raising , and was described by William Camden as incendaria avis , "oftentime it secretly conveieth fire sticks, setting their houses afire". Daniel Defoe
6588-559: The choughs are basal to a group of Asian jay genera ( Crypsirina , Dendrocitta , Platysmurus , Temnurus ), or most recently, basal in the entire Corvidae. There are eight extant subspecies , although differences between them are slight. The small population in Brittany has often been included with British and Irish birds in the nominate subspecies P. p. pyrrhocorax , but is now included with other mainland Western European populations in P. p. erythroramphos ; in some aspects it
SECTION 60
#17327876368716696-436: The corn. In the Himalayas, they form large flocks in winter. The preferred feeding habitat is short grass produced by grazing, for example by sheep and rabbits, the numbers of which are linked to the chough's breeding success. Suitable feeding areas can also arise where plant growth is hindered by exposure to coastal salt spray or poor soils. It will use its long curved bill to pick ants, dung beetles and emerging flies off
6804-472: The crash. Local residents undertook a rescue mission, taking the injured off the mountain where they were then transferred to Sligo County Hospital. Substantial wreckage of the plane stayed on the mountain for many years following the crash and today limited amounts of aircraft fragments still remain at the site. Near the location of the Flying Fortress crash, there was an earlier crash also involving
6912-718: 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 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
7020-474: 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
7128-560: 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
7236-664: The following year. This was the first English breeding record since 1947, and a slowly expanding population has bred every subsequent year. In Jersey , the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust , in partnership with the States of Jersey and the National Trust for Jersey began a project in 2010, aimed at restoring selected areas of Jersey's coastline with the intention of returning those birds that had become locally extinct. The red-billed chough
7344-417: The ground, with ants probably being the most significant item. The Central Asian subspecies P. p. centralis will perch on the backs of wild or domesticated mammals to feed on parasites. Although invertebrates make up most of the chough's diet, it will eat vegetable matter including fallen grain, and in the Himalayas has been reported as damaging barley crops by breaking off the ripening heads to extract
7452-531: The insects deters parasites). The red-billed chough has an extensive range, estimated at ten million square kilometres (four million square miles), and a large population, including an estimated 86,000 to 210,000 individuals in Europe. Over its range as a whole, the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the global population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and
7560-425: The killing of Brigadier Joseph Ring eight days earlier. Two of those killed and Ring were ancestors of current and recent politicians: Ring is the grand uncle of Michael Ring , McNeill is the uncle of former Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell and Devins is the grandfather of Jimmy Devins . Mary O'Rourke once narrated a radio documentary telling how her grandmother's home
7668-716: 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
7776-410: 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
7884-476: 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 ,
7992-582: 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
8100-804: 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
8208-465: The name transferring from one species to the other. The Australian white-winged chough Corcorax melanorhamphos , despite its similar shape and habits, is in a separate family Corcoracidae only moderately related to the Corvidae and not notably to the true choughs, and is an example of convergent evolution . The adult of the "nominate" subspecies of the red-billed chough, P. p. pyrrhocorax ,
8316-469: 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
8424-655: 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
8532-503: 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
8640-569: The plain below Benbulbin at Cúl Dreimhne (Cooladrumman) for the right to copy a Psalter he had borrowed from St. Finnian . On 20 September 1922, during the Irish Civil War , an Irish Republican Army column, including an armoured car were cornered in Sligo. The car was destroyed by another armoured car belonging to the Irish Free State 's National Army , and six of the IRA soldiers fled up
8748-611: The poetry of W. B. Yeats , after whom Yeats Country is named. County Sligo is considered integral to the poet's work. The mountain is one of the destinations on the Passport Trail of the poet's life. Yeats wrote the following in The Celtic Twilight : But for Ben Bulben and Knocknarea, Many a poor sailor'd be cast away . The mountain is also mentioned in Yeats's On a Political Prisoner , in which he recalls
8856-557: 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
8964-580: The populations with nest sites on buildings are threatened by human disturbance, persecution and the loss of old buildings. Fossils of both chough species were found in the mountains of the Canary Islands . The local extinction of the Alpine chough and the reduced range of red-billed chough in the islands may have been due to climate change or human activity. A small group of wild red-billed chough arrived naturally in Cornwall in 2001, and nested in
9072-470: The red-billed chough in the vicinity of the kestrels was found to be much higher than that of birds elsewhere, with a lower percentage of nest failures (16% near the falcon, 65% elsewhere). This species is occasionally parasitised by the great spotted cuckoo , a brood parasite for which the Eurasian magpie is the primary host. Red-billed choughs can acquire blood parasites such as Plasmodium , but
9180-581: The red-billed chough, also known as 'sea-crow', was considered sacred to the Titan Cronus and dwelt on Ogygia , Calypso's 'Blessed Island', where "The birds of broadest wing their mansions form/The chough, the sea-mew, the loquacious crow." The red-billed chough has a long association with Cornwall, and appears on the Cornish coat of arms . According to Cornish legend King Arthur did not die after his last battle but rather his soul migrated into
9288-492: 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 )
9396-432: 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
9504-407: The rest of the continent breeding areas are fragmented and isolated, the red-billed chough has been categorised as "vulnerable" in Europe. In Spain the red-billed chough has recently expanded its range by utilising old buildings, with 1,175 breeding pairs in a 9,716-square-kilometre (3,751 sq mi) study area. These new breeding areas usually surround the original montane core areas. However,
9612-647: 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
9720-638: The road an ancient cross. No marble, no conventional phrase; On limestone quarried near the spot By his command these words are cut: Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by! This was Yeats's final poem, published in The Irish Times . He is buried in Drumcliffe Churchyard, in the shadow of Benbulbin. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
9828-488: The similar vocalisation of the jackdaw, and always very different from that of its yellow-billed congener , which has rippling preep and whistled sweeeooo calls. Small subspecies of the red-billed chough have higher frequency calls than larger races, as predicted by the inverse relationship between body size and frequency. The red-billed chough breeds in Ireland, western Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Brittany, La Palma in
9936-437: The stacks of corn, and the thatch of barns and houses, and set them on fire; but this I only had by oral tradition. Not all mentions of "chough" refer to this species. Because of the origins of its name, when Shakespeare writes of "the crows and choughs that wing the midway air" [ King Lear , act 4, scene 6] or Henry VIII 's Vermin Act 1532 is "ordeyned to dystroye Choughes, Crowes and Rookes", they are clearly referring to
10044-435: The surface, or to dig for grubs and other invertebrates. The typical excavation depth of 2–3 cm ( 3 ⁄ 4 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) reflects the thin soils which it feeds on, and the depths at which many invertebrates occur, but it may dig to 10–20 cm (4–8 in) in appropriate conditions. Where the two chough species occur together, there is only limited competition for food. An Italian study showed that
10152-726: 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
10260-480: The vegetable part of the winter diet for the red-billed chough was almost exclusively Gagea bulbs, whilst the Alpine chough took berries and hips. In June, red-billed choughs fed on Lepidoptera larvae whereas Alpine choughs ate cranefly pupae . Later in the summer, the Alpine chough mainly consumed grasshoppers , whilst the red-billed chough added cranefly pupae, fly larvae and beetles to its diet. Both choughs will hide food in cracks and fissures, concealing
10368-399: The warrior Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Diarmuid) is tricked by Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) into fighting an enchanted boar , which later kills the warrior by piercing his heart with its tusk. McCool is also said to have found his long-lost son Oisín at this location. The mountain is said to be Diarmuid and Gráinne 's resting place. Also, in the 6th century, St. Columba fought a battle on
10476-549: The western edge of the ridge is privately owned farmland and not accessible to the general public. However, there is a paved path up the south face to the east near Glencar Waterfall just over the County Leitrim border. One of the trails running alongside Benbulbin mountain is the Gortarowey Looped Walk, which runs both through the forest and out in the open, overlooking Benbulbin and Donegal Bay . It
10584-594: 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
10692-484: Was Benbulbin in 1977. It was marked first with 'Brits Out' (180 ft wide and 25 ft high) and then later with the slogan 'H-Block'. Benbulbin overlooks the village of Mullaghmore , the site of the assassination of Lord Mountbatten in 1979. As stated above, Benbulbin is a protected site, designated as a County Geological Site by Sligo County Council. However, in May 2018, 'Vote No' (8th amendment) campaigners erected
10800-418: Was also familiar with this story: It is counted little better than a kite, for it is of ravenous quality, and is very mischievous; it will steal and carry away any thing it finds about the house, that is not too heavy, tho' not fit for its food; as knives, forks, spoons and linnen cloths, or whatever it can fly away with, sometimes they say it has stolen bits of firebrands, or lighted candles, and lodged them in
10908-531: 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
11016-484: Was chosen as a flagship species for this project, having been absent from Jersey since around 1900. Durrell initially received two pairs of choughs from Paradise Park in Cornwall and began a captive breeding programme. In 2013, juveniles were released onto the north coast of Jersey using soft-release methods developed at Durrell. Over the next five years, small cohorts of captive-bred choughs were released, monitored, and provided supplemental food. In Greek mythology ,
11124-668: 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
11232-618: 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. Red-billed chough The red-billed chough , Cornish chough or simply chough ( / ˈ tʃ ʌ f / CHUF ; Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax ),
11340-474: 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
11448-693: 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
11556-442: 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,
11664-399: Was used as a safehouse. During World War II there were two plane crashes in the Dartry mountains close to Benbulbin. On 9 December 1943, a USAAF Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress plane (en route from Goose Bay , Labrador to Prestwick , Scotland) crashed on Truskmore just east of Benbulbin. 10 airmen were aboard, of whom three died, two at the scene and one from injuries sustained in
#870129