100-665: The River Liffey ( Irish : An Life , historically An Ruirthe(a)ch ) is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay . Its major tributaries include the River Dodder , the River Poddle and the River Camac . The river supplies much of Dublin's water and supports a range of recreational activities. Ptolemy 's Geography (2nd century AD) described
200-502: A senator and member of the committee on 9 December 1930 and suggested the present site. At that time known as the "Longmeadows Estates" it is about 60 acres (24 ha) in extent stretching parallel along the south bank of the River Liffey from Islandbridge towards Chapelizod . His proposal was adopted by the committee on 16 December 1931. Cosgrave said at the time that ". ... this is a big question of remembrance and honour to
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
400-472: A 27 km (17 mi) course from Straffan to Islandbridge. The Normal Tidal Limit (NTL) of the river is Islandbridge (weir). The Liffey Swim takes place every year in late August or early September between Watling Bridge and The Custom House . The Islandbridge stretch of river accommodates a number of rowing clubs including Trinity College, UCD, Commercial , Neptune, and the Garda rowing club. The Liffey
500-717: 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
600-575: 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
700-526: A commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs." James Joyce , Finnegans Wake (1939) (first sentence of novel). That is the first of a number of references to the Liffey in the Wake : insofar as the book has characters, the female protagonist of the novel, Anna Livia Plurabelle , is herself an allegory of the river. A skiff, a crumpled throwaway, Elijah is coming, rode lightly down
800-478: 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,
900-553: 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
1000-460: 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
1100-424: A liking to this plain, and demanded that it should bear her name, and Deltbanna refused to serve any more drink to the men of Éire till the request was granted. The Liffey was previously named An Ruirthech , meaning "fast (or strong) runner". The word Liphe (or Life ) referred originally to the name of the plain through which the river ran, but eventually came to refer to the river itself. The word may derive from
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#17327769078311200-593: A meeting of over 100 representatives from all parts of Ireland on 17 July 1919, a trust fund was created to consider plans and designs for a permanent memorial "to commemorate all those Irish men and women killed in the First World War". A general committee was formed in November 1924 to pursue proposals for a site in Dublin. For technical and administrative reasons it was not until its meeting on 28 March 1927 in
1300-585: 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
1400-575: 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
1500-558: A regeneration of urban decay in Dublin, and the beginning of a change in the public's view of its pre- Irish Revolution national history and identity, which led to a project of restoration work to renew the park and gardens to their former splendour being undertaken by the Office of Public Works , co-funded by the National War Memorial Committee. On 10 September 1988 the fully restored gardens were re-opened to
1600-625: 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
1700-547: 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
1800-700: A river, perhaps the Liffey, which he labelled Οβοκα ( Oboka ). Ultimately this led to the name of the River Avoca in County Wicklow . According to "Place Names from our Older Literature - IV." by Boswell, C. S. (1904 Connradh na Gaedhilge) the river takes its name from Magh Life, i.e. the plain of Kildare through which the Life flows. This in turn takes its name from Life, daughter of Canann Curthach, who eloped with and married Deltbanna mac Druchta, cup-bearer to Conaire Mór High King of Ireland. Life took
1900-545: 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
2000-475: A wooden bridge, Dubhghall's Bridge, dating to the 11th century, and was in turn replaced – the site is now occupied by Fr. Mathew Bridge ). The Bridge of Dublin was built by the Dominicans in 1428 , and survived well into the 18th century. This four-arch bridge included various buildings such as a chapel, bakehouse and possibly an inn. Island Bridge (a predecessor of the current bridge) was added in 1577 at
2100-603: 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
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#17327769078312200-452: 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
2300-681: Is an Irish war memorial in Islandbridge , Dublin, dedicated "to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who gave their lives in the Great War , 1914–1918", out of a total of 206,000 Irishmen who served in the British forces alone during the war. The Memorial Gardens also commemorate all other Irish men and women who at that time served, fought and died in Irish regiments of the Allied armies ,
2400-511: 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
2500-797: Is now the K Club ), and the Leinster Aqueduct – which carries the Grand Canal over the Liffey at Caragh . Art works along the river and its quays include the Famine Memorial Statues (near the IFSC ) and the World Hunger Stone. The song about Seamus Rafferty refers to the "bowsies on the quay"; However, from the late 20th-century there was some renewed development on the quays, with the addition of linear parks and overhanging boardwalks . There are quays on
2600-587: 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
2700-472: Is outstanding among the many war memorials he created throughout the world. He found it a glorious site. The sunken Garden of Remembrance surrounds a Stone of Remembrance of Irish granite symbolising an altar, which weighs seven and a half tons. The dimensions of this are identical to First World War memorials found throughout the world, and is aligned with the Great Cross and Central Avenue. Opposite to
2800-412: 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
2900-481: Is widely used for recreational activities – such as canoeing, rafting, fishing, swimming, significant facilities are at Poulaphouca , Kilcullen , Newbridge , where a seven-acre Liffey Linear Park has been developed, and other facilities are located further downriver at Leixlip and other towns. The earliest stone bridge over the Liffey in Dublin of which there is solid evidence was the Bridge of Dublin, which replaced
3000-666: 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
3100-706: The Anna Liffey , possibly from an anglicisation of Abhainn na Life, the Irish phrase that translates into English as "River Liffey". James Joyce embodies the river in Finnegans Wake as "Anna Livia Plurabelle". The Liffey rises in the Liffey Head Bog between the mountains of Kippure 742 metres (2,434 ft) and Tonduff 642 metres (2,106 ft) in the northern section of the Wicklow Mountains , forming from many streamlets near
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3200-707: The British , Canadian , Australian , New Zealand , South African and United States armies in support of the Triple Entente 's war effort against the Central Powers . In 1914, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and many Irishmen joined the British armed forces. In particular, the British Army had eight regiments that were raised in Ireland. Following
3300-455: The County Wicklow quarried granite withstood the blast with little damage. Another attempt was made to bring it down again with a bomb detonation in October 1958, which once more failed, resulting in superficial damage. A subsequent lack of financing from the government to provision its up-keep and care allowed the site to fall into dilapidation and vandalism over the following decades, to
3400-572: The Phoenix Park obelisk, it lies about three kilometres from the centre of Dublin, on grounds which gradually slope upwards towards Kilmainham Hill. Old chronicles describe Kilmainham Hill as the camping place of Brian Boru and his army prior to the last decisive Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014. The memorial was amongst the last to be erected to the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in World War I (Canada's National War Memorial
3500-631: 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 ")
3600-630: The Somme to commemorate 4,354 men of the 16th who died in two engagements, is housed in the same building. Three granite replicas of this cross are erected at locations liberated by Irish divisions – Guillemont and Messines-Wytschaete in Belgium, and Thessaloniki in Greece. The Irish National War Memorial Gardens are now managed by the Government's Office of Public Works (OPW) in conjunction with
3700-852: The West-Link Bridge on the M50 motorway , Seán Heuston Bridge and O'Connell Bridge . There are 3 pedestrian bridges in the city: the Millennium Bridge , Seán O'Casey Bridge and the Ha'penny Bridge . 21st century additions include the Samuel Beckett Bridge (2009) and James Joyce Bridge (2003), both designed by Santiago Calatrava . Crossings further upriver include the Liffey Bridge at Celbridge , "The Bridge at 16" (a 19th-century pedestrian suspension bridge at what
3800-508: The Wicklow Mountains . ESB hydroelectric power stations exist along the river, at Poulaphouca , Golden Falls and Leixlip , in addition to a number of minor private installations. A well-known sight on the Liffey up to the 1990s, the Lady Patricia and Miranda Guinness cargo ships were used to export Guinness from the St. James's Gate Brewery . As of the early 21st century,
3900-634: 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
4000-734: 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
4100-403: 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
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4200-571: 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
4300-471: 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
4400-549: 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
4500-507: The Liffey is 1,256 km (485 sq mi). The long term average flow rate of the river is 18.0 m/s (640 cu ft/s). The Liffey system includes dozens of smaller rivers and more than 100 named streams. Early tributaries include the Athdown Brook, Shankill River, Ballylow Brook, Brittas River and Woodend Brook. The substantial King's River, which formerly joined the Liffey near Blessington, and may in fact have held
4600-472: The Liffey to which tall ships may travel, as all bridges downriver of it are either swingbridges or bascule . Around 60% of the Liffey's flow is abstracted for drinking water and to supply industry. Much of this makes its way back into the river after purification in wastewater treatment plants. Despite a misconception that the Guinness brewery is one such commercial user, the facility uses water piped from
4700-515: The Liffey – I'm not here, this isn't happening Radiohead , " How to Disappear Completely " from album Kid A (2000) O'h I've seen her face and I touched a dream, And made love down by the Liffey. Flow Liffey waters, flow gently to the sea. Flow Liffey waters flow, and sing and dance for me. The Wolfe Tones , "Flow Liffey Waters" Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
4800-488: The Liffey's bridges. Downstream of the East-Link bridge, the river is still mainly used for commercial and ferry traffic, with some recreational use also. High speed trips out the mouth of the Liffey were also previously available from Sea Safari. Upstream from the city, at Chapelizod , the river is used by private, university and Garda rowing clubs. The Liffey Descent Canoe Race , held each year since 1960, covers
4900-551: The Liffey, under Loopline Bridge , shooting the rapids where water chafed around the bridgepiers, sailing eastward past hulls and anchorchains, between the Custom House old dock and George's quay. James Joyce , Ulysses (1922) She asked that it be named for her. – The river took its name from the land. – the land took its name from the woman. Eavan Boland , Anna Liffey (1997) That there, that's not me – I go where I please – I walk through walls, I float down
5000-718: The Liffey. One such stone bridge, at Harristown Estate in County Kildare, was built for John LaTouche in 1788. This remains in private use and is near the disused Harristown viaduct (over the Liffey) which was on the Sallins Tullow rail line and was last used in 1959. Dividing the Northside of Dublin from the Southside , the Liffey is today spanned by numerous bridges, mostly open to vehicular traffic. These include
5100-424: The National War Memorial Committee. A further Great War Irish national memorial, taking the form of an all-Ireland journey of conciliation, was jointly opened in 1998 by Mary McAleese , President of Ireland , Queen Elizabeth II and Albert II , King of the Belgians at the Island of Ireland Peace Park , Messines, Flanders , Belgium. A small stream, commonly known as the Creosote Stream, emerges and flows into
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#17327769078315200-424: 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 ,
5300-456: The Sally Gap. It flows for 132 km (82 mi) through counties Wicklow , Kildare and Dublin before entering the Irish Sea at its mouth at the midpoint of Dublin Bay , on a line extending from the Baily lighthouse to the Muglin Rocks. It crosses from County Wicklow into County Kildare at Poulaphouca and from County Kildare into County Dublin at Leixlip , with the greatest part of its length being in Kildare. The catchment area of
5400-431: The Shelbourne Hotel that Merrion Square, alternatively St Stephen's Green , were proposed. A debate in the Free State Senate failed to resolve the impasse. W. T. Cosgrave , president of the Irish Free State Executive Council then appointed Cecil Lavery to set up a "War Memorial Committee" to advance the memorial process. Cosgrave who was very interested in bringing the memorial to fruition met with Andrew Jameson ,
5500-423: The adverse political conditions of the 1930s, Éamon de Valera 's government still recognised the motives of the memorial and made valuable state contributions to it. The cabinet approved work to be divided 50% between British and Irish WWI ex-servicemen. Many difficulties arose in 1937 for the committee with regard to plants, trees and the need to obtain a completion certificate from the Office of Public Works, which
5600-504: The autumnal earth." There was no discord in its building – workers were so drawn from the unemployed that 50 per cent were former World War I ex- British Army and 50 per cent ex- Irish Army men. To provide as much work as possible the use of mechanical equipment was restricted, and even granite blocks of 7 and 8 tonnes from Ballyknockan and Donnelly's quarry in Barnacullia were manhandled into place with primitive tackles of poles and ropes. On completion and intended opening in 1939 (which
5700-577: 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
5800-405: The city up to recent times. It is connected to the River Shannon via the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal . There is no major navigation on the river itself above the East-Link bridge in modern times, but shipping used to enter Dublin city centre, with major docking points up to the St James' Gate area. Since its construction in 1978, the Talbot Memorial Bridge marks the furthest point up to
5900-489: The dead and it must always be a matter of interest to the head of the government to see that a project so dear to a big section of the citizens should be a success" . General Sir William Hickie said "the memorial is an all-Ireland one" . A generous gift was sanctioned by the Irish Government in an eleven-paragraph agreement with the committee on 12 December 1933, the Dublin City Council Office of Public Works (OPW) having already commenced work with 164 men during 1932. In
6000-664: 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
6100-432: The end of a tunnel and connected Farmleigh estate to Palmerstown . The Millennium Bridge was opened in December 1999, and 21st century additions include Seán O'Casey Bridge (2005), Samuel Beckett Bridge (2009), and Rosie Hackett Bridge (2014). There are records regarding several bridges in County Kildare. A bridge was built in Kilcullen in 1319. There are also a number of historic private and disused bridges over
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#17327769078316200-414: 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
6300-430: 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
6400-421: The gardens with Phoenix Park. In the granite paved pergolas surrounding the garden are the 8 illuminated volumes of Ireland's Memorial Records 1914-1918 which record the names of the dead. Each page is illustrated on four sides with artwork by Harry Clarke . They are displayed in cases designed by Lutyens. A wooden cross of oak, the Ginchy Cross , built by the 16th (Irish) Division and originally erected on
6500-498: 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
6600-410: 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
6700-425: 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 ,
6800-420: The larger flow, now merges in within Poulaphouca Reservoir. Downstream of Poulaphouca are the Lemonstown Stream, Kilcullen Stream and Pinkeen Stream, followed by the Painestown River (with tributaries including the Morell River ), the Rye Water (with tributaries including the Lyreen) at Leixlip , and the Griffeen River and Silleachain Stream in Lucan . Within Dublin are the various Phoenix Park streams on
6900-497: The left bank, interspersed with right bank tributaries such as the Glenaulin Stream and Creosote Stream . Within the quays area tributaries include the River Camac , possibly Colman's Brook, the Bradogue River , River Poddle , Stein River and the River Dodder , some of which have numerous tributaries of their own. In earlier times, the River Tolka was also arguably a tributary of the Liffey or at least shared its mouth, but it now enters Dublin Bay distinctly, some distance to
7000-399: 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
7100-497: 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
7200-669: The names of all the dead. At the north of the gardens overlooking the River Liffey stands a domed temple. This also marks the beginning of the avenue leading gently upwards to the steps containing the Stone of Remembrance. On the floor of the temple is an extract from the "War Sonnett II: Safety" by Rupert Brooke : "We have found safety with all things undying, The winds, and morning, tears of men and mirth, The deep night, and birds singing, and clouds flying, And sleep, and freedom, and
7300-469: 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
7400-559: The north and south banks of the Liffey, extending from the weir at Islandbridge to Ringsend bridge over the river Dodder, just before the East-Link toll bridge. From west to east, the quays on the north bank are: From west to east, the quays on the south bank are: In the Annals of Inisfallen for the year 808, an entry reads: From Joyce to Radiohead , the Liffey is often referenced in literature and song: "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's , from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by
7500-400: The north. There are dams for three ESB hydroelectric power stations along the river, at Poulaphouca , Golden Falls and Leixlip . Major reservoir facilities also exist at Poulaphouca. The Liffey does not feature natural lakes and has few islands. Significant falls at Poulaphouca and at Golden Falls were flooded by reservoir construction. There remain areas of rapids , including as
7600-655: 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
7700-407: The oldest bridge which connected Church Street and Bridge Street . It was replaced with Whitworth Bridge in 1816. The oldest bridge still standing is Mellows Bridge , (originally Queens Bridge) constructed in 1764 on the site of Arran Bridge, which was destroyed by floods in 1763. The first iron bridge was the Ha'penny Bridge built in 1816. Farmleigh Bridge , also iron, was built around 1872 at
7800-799: The only regular traffic on the river within the city is the Liffey Voyage water tour bus service, which runs guided tours along the River Liffey through Dublin City centre. Departing from the boardwalk downstream of the Ha'penny Bridge , the Spirit of the Docklands was built by Westers Mekaniska in Sweden as a 50-passenger water taxi . Its variable ballast tanks (not unlike a submarine ) and low air draught mean that at low tide it can float high, but at high tide it can ride low and still pass below
7900-503: 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
8000-589: The point that by the late 1970s it had become a site for caravans and animals of the Irish Traveller community, with the Dublin Corporation 's refuse disposal office using it as a rubbish dump for the city's waste. In addition fifty years of storms and the elements had left their mark, with structural damage unrepaired to parts of the garden's ornamentation. In the mid-1980s economic and cultural shifts began to occur in Ireland which facilitated
8100-557: 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
8200-514: The politico-cultural situation in the state, and its nationally dominant ideologically adverse view of Ireland's role in World War I , and of those who had volunteered to fight in World War II , prevented the garden from being civically opened and dedicated. The garden was subject to two Irish Republican paramilitary attacks. On Christmas night 1956 a bomb was placed at the base of its Stone of Remembrance and memorial cross and detonated, but
8300-428: The public, and formally dedicated by representatives of the four main churches of Ireland, half a century after its creation. In January 2024 a proposal was published to build a bridge over the River Liffey providing access to the gardens from Chapelizod Road. This bridge would be in partial fulfilment of Lutyens' original plan which included a bridge over the river and an additional bridge over Chapelizod Road connecting
8400-492: 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 )
8500-488: 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
8600-712: 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
8700-476: The river approaches Dublin city. Towns along the river include Blessington , Ballymore Eustace , Kilcullen , Athgarvan , Newbridge , Caragh , Clane , Celbridge , Leixlip and Lucan before the river passes the suburb of Chapelizod and then runs through the city of Dublin all the way to its mouth. The River Liffey in Dublin city has been used for many centuries for trade, from the Viking beginnings of
8800-458: The same root as Welsh llif (flood, flow, stream), namely Proto-Indo-European lē̆i-4 , referring to the historic propensity of areas such as Phoenix Park and Waterstown Park to be inundated, but Gearóid Mac Eoin has more recently proposed that it may derive from a non-Indo-European word borrowed from the original language spoken in Ireland before the arrival of the Celts. It was also known as
8900-447: The upper tidal extremities of the river between Islandbridge and western Chapelizod. With the development of commercial Dublin in the 17th century, four new bridges were added in Dublin between 1670 and 1684: Barrack, or Bloody Bridge, (the forerunner of the current Rory O'More Bridge ), Essex Bridge ( Grattan Bridge ), Ormond Bridge ( O'Donovan Rossa Bridge ) and Arran Bridge. Flooding in December 1801 following 36 hours of rain destroyed
9000-726: 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
9100-594: 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
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
9300-609: 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
9400-691: 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. Irish National War Memorial Gardens#Creosote stream The Irish National War Memorial Gardens ( Irish : Gairdíní Náisiúnta Cuimhneacháin Cogaidh na hÉireann )
9500-477: Was finally issued in January 1938. An official opening was agreed for 30 July 1939, but the looming threat of war led to it being postponed. In the end, no official opening ever happened, but the first public event in the gardens took place in 1940 for Armistice Day celebrations. Designed by the great memorialist Sir Edwin Lutyens who had already landscaped designed several sites in Ireland and around Europe, it
9600-421: Was opened in 1939), and is "the symbol of Remembrance in memory of a Nation's sacrifice". The elaborate layout includes a central sunken rose garden composed by a committee of eminent horticulturalists, various terraces , pergolas , lawns and avenues lined with impressive parkland trees, and two pairs of book rooms in granite, representing the four provinces of Ireland, and containing illuminated volumes recording
9700-474: 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
9800-468: Was postponed) the trustees responsible said: "It is with a spirit of confidence that we commit this noble memorial of Irish valour to the care and custody of the Government of Ireland" . Although commemorations by Irish British Armed Forces veterans and families of those killed in the course of the Great War took place at the site for a few years in the late 1940s and 1950s, with some large attendances,
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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