123-624: Mary MacSwiney (pronounced 'MacSweeney'; Irish : Máire Nic Shuibhne ; 27 March 1872 – 8 March 1942) was an Irish republican activist and politician, as well as a teacher. MacSwiney was thrust into both the national and international spotlight in 1920 when her brother Terence MacSwiney , then the Lord Mayor of Cork, went on hunger strike in protest of British policy in Ireland. Mary, alongside her sister-in-law Muriel MacSwiney kept daily vigil over Terence and effectively became spokespeople for
246-501: A TD in Dáil Éireann in the 1920s. His sister Margaret Mary Pearse also served as a TD and Senator . In a 2006 book, psychiatrists Michael Fitzgerald and Antoinette Walker speculated that Pearse had Asperger syndrome . Pearse's apparent "sexual immaturity", and some of his behaviour, has been the subject of comment since the 1970s by historians such as Ruth Dudley Edwards , T. Ryle Dwyer and Seán Farrell Moran, who speculated that he
369-547: 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
492-717: 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
615-575: 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
738-737: A certain day we shall stand together, with many more beside us, ready for a greater adventure than any of us has yet had, a trial and a triumph to be endured and achieved in common. The Home Rule Bill just failed to pass the House of Lords , but the Lords' diminished power under the Parliament Act 1911 meant that the Bill could only be delayed, not stopped. It was placed on the statute books with Royal Assent in September 2014, but its implementation
861-478: 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,
984-553: 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
1107-460: 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
1230-437: A living connection with the pre-colonial Gaelic past while resuming its relationship with contemporary Europe, bypassing the monolithic influence of English." For these reasons, de Paor called Pearse's death a catastrophic loss for modern literature in Irish . According to de Paor, this loss only began to be healed during the 1940s by the modernist poetry of Seán Ó Ríordáin , Máirtín Ó Direáin , and Máire Mhac an tSaoi ; and by
1353-594: A loan from the Students' Aid Society in Ireland, she studied for a Teaching Diploma at the University of Cambridge , which was normally reserved for men. She worked at Hillside Convent, Farnborough , and considered becoming a nun, beginning a one-year noviciate with the Oblates of St Benedict , Ventnor . On the death of her mother in 1904, she returned to Cork to look after the younger members of her family and took
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#17327866406911476-402: A martyr by the now-pulsating Irish nationalist movement. Throughout Terence's strike, both Mary, her sister Annie, and Terence's wife Muriel MacSwiney kept vigil and visited him daily, and were thrust into the roles of republican activists. All of them were deeply traumatised by Terence's death, and were driven into extreme militant Irish republicanism thereafter, Mary perhaps most of all. In
1599-776: A move which resulted in her leaving the Munster Women's Franchise League. That same year MacSwiney denounced British rule at their general convention in November 1914. During the Easter Rising of 1916, there was mass confusion in Cork City over whether or not the Volunteers should mobilise, due to conflicting orders. Unsure of what to do, Terence MacSwiney and other volunteers held up in Volunteers Hall in
1722-585: 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
1845-575: 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
1968-469: A post at St Angela's where she had been a pupil. She attended the first meeting of the Munster Women's Franchise League , becoming a committee member. She opposed militancy within the Irish suffrage movement, and her nationalist views caused irritation to other members. She attended the first meeting of the Munster Women's Franchise League , becoming a committee member. She opposed militancy within
2091-625: 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
2214-473: A sister school to Patrick Pearse 's St. Enda's School , a Gaelscoil she would be involved with for the rest of her life. In 1917 MacSwiney was elected to the national executive of a newly reorganised Cumann na mBan, marking her increasing seniority amongst the women's side of the Republican movement. In the summer of 1920, a number of imprisoned Irish republicans went on hunger strike, most prominently
2337-614: A strong interest in the leaders of past republican movements, such as the United Irishmen Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet . Pearse soon became involved in the Gaelic revival . In 1896, at the age of 16, he joined the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and in 1903, at the age of 23, he became editor of its newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis (" The Sword of Light "). In 1900, Pearse
2460-589: A teacher. Her school, educational advances and feminism were recognised as progressive. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of
2583-493: 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
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#17327866406912706-452: 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
2829-511: 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
2952-967: Is named after P.H. Pearse. In September 2014, Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh, a new Irish language medium secondary school, opened its doors for the first time in the former Loreto Abbey buildings, just 1 km from the Pearse Museum in St Endas Park, Rathfarnham. Today Glanmire County Cork boasts the best secondary-level Irish-speaking college in Ireland called Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, which was named in honour and structured around Patrick Pearse's beliefs. A number of Gaelic Athletic Association clubs and playing fields in Ireland are named after Pádraic or both Pearses: So also are several outside Ireland: There are also soccer clubs named Pearse Celtic FC in Cork and in Ringsend , Dublin; and Liffeys Pearse FC,
3075-587: 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
3198-416: Is patriotism that stirs the people. Belgium defending her soil is heroic, and so is Turkey . . . . . . It is good for the world that such things should be done. The old heart of the earth needed to be warmed with the red wine of the battlefields. Such august homage was never before offered to God as this, the homage of millions of lives given gladly for love of country. War is a terrible thing, and this
3321-412: 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
3444-457: Is the most terrible of wars. But this war is not more terrible than the evils which it will end or help to end. In December 1913 Bulmer Hobson swore Pearse into the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), an organisation dedicated to the overthrow of British rule in Ireland and its replacement with an Irish Republic. He was soon co-opted onto the IRB's Supreme Council by Tom Clarke . Pearse
3567-666: 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
3690-701: The Conamara Theas dialect of Connacht Irish spoken around his summer cottage at Rosmuc in Connemara , he chose to follow the usual practice of the Gaelic revival by writing in Munster Irish , which was considered less Anglicized than other Irish dialects. Also according to Louis de Paor, Pearse's reading of the radically experimental poetry of Walt Whitman and of the French Symbolists led him to introduce Modernist poetry into
3813-570: The 1921 Irish elections , MacSwiney was elected for Sinn Féin to the Cork Borough constituency (taking her seat in Dáil Éireann ), taking the seat that had once been held by her brother. Another brother, Seán , was also elected to the Dáil in a different Cork constituency. By the end of 1921, the Irish and British had begun discussing peace terms in London. In October 1921, a second delegation
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3936-737: The American Civil War . The Irish-speaking influence of Pearse's grand-aunt Margaret, together with his schooling at the CBS Westland Row, instilled in him an early love for the Irish language and culture . Pearse grew up surrounded by books. His father had had very little formal education, but was self-educated; Pearse recalled that at the age of ten he prayed to God, promising to dedicate his life to Irish independence. Pearse's early heroes were ancient Gaelic folk heroes such as Cúchulainn , though in his 30s he began to take
4059-589: The Collected Works of 1917). Most of his ideas on education are contained in his essay " The Murder Machine ". He also wrote many essays on politics and language, notably "The Coming Revolution" and "Ghosts". Pearse is closely associated with his rendering of the Jacobite sean-nós song , " Oró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile ", for which he composed republican lyrics. According to Innti poet and literary critic Louis de Paor , despite Pearse's enthusiasm for
4182-506: The Irish Christian Brothers , like his younger brother Willie, Pearse believed that language was intrinsic to the identity of a nation. The Irish school system, he believed, raised Ireland's youth to be good Englishmen or obedient Irishmen and an alternative was needed. Thus for him and other language revivalists saving the Irish language from extinction was a cultural priority of the utmost importance. The key to saving
4305-795: The Irish Parliamentary Party , which held the balance of power in the House of Commons committed the government of the United Kingdom to introduce an Irish Home Rule Bill . Pearse gave the bill a qualified welcome. He was one of four speakers, including Redmond, Joseph Devlin MP, leader of the Northern Nationalists, and Eoin MacNeill a prominent Gaelic Leaguer, who addressed a large Home Rule Rally in Dublin at
4428-401: The Irish language . As a literary critic , Pearse also left behind a very detailed blueprint for the decolonization of Irish literature , particularly in the Irish language . Louis De Paor writes that Patrick Pearse was "the most perceptive critic and most accomplished poet," of the early Gaelic revival providing "a sophisticated model for a new literature in Irish that would reestablish
4551-498: The June 1927 general election , MacSwiney lost her seat in the Dáil, as did every other remaining Sinn Féin TD, as their place as the primary republican party was completely eclipsed by Fianna Fáil. When a second general election was called that same year, Sinn Féin did not have the ability to contest it as they were completely depleted of funds. MacSwiney called for a boycott of the election by
4674-596: The Pearse Museum . In 1910 Pearse wrote that the Hermitage was an "ideal" location due to the aesthetics of the grounds and that if he could secure it, "the school would be on a level with" the more established schools of the day such as " Clongowes Wood College and Castleknock College ". Pearse was also involved in the foundation of Scoil Íde (St Ita's School) for girls, an institution with aims similar to those of St Enda's. In April 1912 John Redmond leader of
4797-631: 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 ")
4920-634: 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
5043-789: 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
Mary MacSwiney - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
5289-469: The 2nd Dáil to help legitimise his position, MacSwiney responded and supported him. In December 1938 MacSwiney and six others signed over what supposed they had as the "remaining legitimate government of Ireland" to the IRA Army Council . Russell would use this new found authority to "declare war" on England and begin the " S-Plan ", a bombing campaign of Northern Ireland and England carried out by
5412-403: 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
5535-571: 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
5658-562: The Dáil and enter it. De Valera had come to believe that abstentionism was not a workable tactic and now saw the need to become the elected government of the Dáil . De Valera proposed a motion to accept the Free State Constitution (contingent on the abolition of the Oath of Allegiance ), but it was narrowly defeated by a vote of 223 to 218, with MacSwiney amongst those starkly opposed. However, De Valera immediately resigned from
5781-471: 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
5904-716: The IRA as World War II began. MacSwiney suffered a heart attack in 1939, which would ultimately contribute towards her death on 8 March 1942 aged 69. De Valera offered to attend, but her sister Annie blankly refused. In 1923, Terence's widow Muriel left Ireland forever, dismayed that the Anti-Treaty IRA has lost the Irish Civil War. She relocated to continental Europe, taking her daughter Máire with her. Máire would grow up primarily in Germany and her communication with
6027-655: The IRB to issue a last-minute order to go through with the plan the following day, greatly limiting the numbers who turned out for the rising. When the Easter Rising eventually began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, it was Pearse who read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic from outside the General Post Office , the headquarters of the Rising. Pearse was the person most responsible for drafting
6150-549: 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
6273-405: The Irish language) called Lios na nÓg, part of a community-based effort to revive the Irish language. Crumlin (Dublin) has the Pearse College of Further Education, and there was formerly an Irish language summer school in Gaoth Dobhair called Colaiste an Phiarsaigh. In Rosmuc there is an Irish-medium vocational school, Gairmscoil na bPiarsach. The main lecture hall at the Cadet School in Ireland
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#17327866406916396-404: The Irish suffrage movement, and her nationalist views caused irritation to other members. Influenced by her younger brother Terence MacSwiney 's staunch Irish republicanism , she joined the Gaelic League and Inghinidhe na hÉireann . After her brother Terence and Tomás MacCurtain founded a Cork branch of the Irish Volunteers , Mary in turn founded a Cork branch of Cumann na mBan in 1914,
6519-453: The MacSwiney family was severely limited, as Muriel had fallen out with them. However, by the 1930s Máire pined to return to Ireland and made contact with Mary. Mary, for her part, claimed that upon Terence's death, he had placed Máire in both Mary and Muriel's joint custody. Mary journeyed to Switzerland, where she met up with Máire who had run away from boarding school, and together the two returned to Ireland. Because Mary refused to acknowledge
6642-419: The Proclamation, and he was chosen as President of the Republic. After six days of fighting, heavy civilian casualties and great destruction of property, Pearse issued the order to surrender. Pearse and fourteen other leaders, including his brother Willie, were court-martialled and executed by firing squad . Thomas Clarke , Thomas MacDonagh and Pearse himself were the first of the rebels to be executed, on
6765-424: 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 ,
6888-424: The age of six and was educated at St Angela's School in Cork . Her father was a fervent Irish nationalist and imparted those values to all of his children, including Mary. During her childhood, a severe infection in her leg lead to the unfortunate loss of a foot, which had to be amputated, and delayed her education. At the age of twenty, she obtained a teaching post at a private school in England. After receiving
7011-417: The agreement from all angles. MacSwiney's speech drew the ire of many of the pro-treaty TDs, Arthur Griffith and Ernest Blythe amongst them. Ultimately, TDs would vote to endorse the treaty by a vote of 64 to 57. The result was devastating to MacSwiney, and in the aftermath, she publicly endorsed threats of violence by the Irish Republican Army against pro-treaty TDs. Despite the vote in the Dáil to endorse
7134-577: 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
7257-409: The bodies of the Pearse brothers to their family, saying, "Irish sentimentality will turn these graves into martyrs' shrines to which annual processions will be made, which would cause constant irritation in this country." Maxwell also suppressed a letter from Pearse to his mother, and two poems dated 1 May 1916. He submitted copies of them also to Prime Minister Asquith, saying that some of the content
7380-404: The campaign. Terence MacSwiney would ultimately die in October 1920, and from then on Mary MacSwiney acted as an unofficial custodian of his legacy, becoming a dogged and zealous advocate of Irish Republicanism. Following a high-profile seven-month tour of the United States in 1921 in which she and Muriel raised the profile of the Irish independence movement, Mary was elected to Dáil Éireann amidst
7503-414: The city, where they were arrested by the British authorities. Mary, who had been running messages for the Volunteers, attempted to return to teaching at St Angela's but she too was arrested later in the week during class. In the aftermath she was dismissed from her teaching position for her republican activities. Several months later, upon her release from prison, she and her sister Annie re-founded Scoil Íte,
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#17327866406917626-413: The context of the Victorian era "cult of the boy". In almost all of Pearse's portraits, he struck a sideways pose, concealing his left side. This was to hide a strabismus or squint in his left eye, which he felt was an embarrassing condition. Cullenswood House, the Pearse family home in Ranelagh where Pádraic first founded St Enda's, today houses a primary Gaelscoil (school for education through
7749-403: The continuation of internment without charge/trial, demanding immediate release or status as political prisoners. She retained her seat at the 1923 general election and along with other Sinn Féin members she refused to enter the Dáil . Inactive Defunct In March 1926 Sinn Féin held its annual Ard Fheis , and the topic on the agenda was whether the party should accept the legitimacy of
7872-430: The core group that began planning for a rising while war raged on the European Western Front . On 1 August 1915 Pearse gave a graveside oration at the funeral of the Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa . He was the first republican to be filmed giving an oration. It closed with the words: Our foes are strong and wise and wary; but, strong and wise and wary as they are, they cannot undo the miracles of God who ripens in
7995-460: The decade following the split, MacSwiney reacted by endorsing violence carried out by the IRA. Towards the end of her life, she formally endorsed the World War II era leadership of the IRA under Seán Russell , who would go on to carry out the " S-Plan ", a bombing campaign of Northern Ireland and England designed to weaken the UK in the face of Germany. Born in London to an Irish father and English mother, she returned to Ireland with her family at
8118-407: The end of March 1912. Speaking in Irish, Pearse said he thought that "a good measure can be gained if we have enough courage", but he warned, "Let the English understand that if we are again betrayed, there shall be red war throughout Ireland". In November 1913 Pearse was invited to the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers —formed in reaction to the creation of the Ulster Volunteers —whose aim
8241-414: 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
8364-562: The family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish 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
8487-430: 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
8610-432: The hearts of young men the seeds sown by the young men of a former generation. And the seeds sown by the young men of '65 and '67 are coming to their miraculous ripening today. Rulers and Defenders of the Realm had need to be wary if they would guard against such processes. Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations. The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in
8733-515: The inmates signed a joint 'Message from Mountjoy'. Her condition was critical and she was given the Last Rites by a catholic priest. The Government were not prepared to allow strikers die, and she was released. En route to Liam Lynch 's funeral, she was arrested when the car she was in stopped, and she was recognised. She was taken with Kathleen O'Callaghan to Kilmainham Gaol . She began another protest, fearless of death, being "ready for it". They continued to be interned (held without charge), but it
8856-716: 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
8979-410: 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
9102-645: The language, he felt, would be a sympathetic education system. To show the way he started his own bilingual school for boys, St. Enda's School (Scoil Éanna) in Cullenswood House in Ranelagh , a suburb of County Dublin , in 1908. Pearse's restless idealism led him in search of an even more idyllic home for his school. He found it in The Hermitage in Rathfarnham , County Dublin, now home to
9225-425: 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 ,
9348-526: The legitimacy of the Irish state, she had no passport, and Éamon De Valera had to see to it that Mary was granted a special one that allowed her to travel. Upon learning of Máire's return to Ireland, Muriel engaged in a bitter legal battle with Mary that raged in the Irish courts. De Valera's issuing of a passport led Muriel to suggest that Mary and De Valera were conspiring together to kidnap Máire. Ultimately, an Irish judge would rule that Muriel's life in Europe
9471-582: 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
9594-648: The modernist novels An Béal Bocht by Flann O'Brien and Cré na Cille by Máirtín Ó Cadhain . With the outbreak of conflict in Northern Ireland in 1969, Pearse's legacy was used by the Provisional IRA . Pearse's ideas have been seen by Seán Farrell Moran as belonging to the context of European cultural history as a part of a rejection of reason by European social thinkers. Additionally, his place within Catholicism, where his orthodoxy
9717-538: The morning of 3 May 1916. Pearse was 36 years old at the time of his death. Roger Casement , who had tried unsuccessfully to recruit an insurgent force among Irish-born prisoners of war from the Irish Brigade in Germany, was hanged in London the following August. Sir John Maxwell , the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland , sent a telegram to H. H. Asquith , then Prime Minister, advising him not to return
9840-804: 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
9963-469: 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
10086-409: The now Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney. The British government resolved not to cave to the demands of the strikers, fearing that it would contribute towards a widespread revolution in Ireland. Terence began his strike on 12 August and rapidly it became an international cause célèbre , being reported on from all over the world. Terence would ultimately die on 25 October 1920 and would be held up as
10209-655: 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
10332-763: The ongoing Irish War of Independence . During debates of the Anglo-Irish Treaty , a proposed peace deal between the British and the Irish, MacSwiney was amongst the most outspoken advocates against it. During the ensuing Irish Civil War , MacSwiney supported the Anti-Treaty IRA and was imprisoned for it, resulting in her partaking in two hunger strikes herself. Following the Sinn Féin/ Fianna Fáil split in 1926, she became deputy leader of Sinn Féin in 1927. As Sinn Féin and hardline republicans became increasingly sidelined politically in
10455-413: The open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but, the fools, the fools, the fools! – They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace. ( Full text of Speech) It
10578-503: 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
10701-439: The party and walked out, and in doing so took the great majority of Sinn Féin support with him. De Valera and his supporter would go on to immediately form a new Irish republican party, Fianna Fáil . Following the split, MacSwiney became vice-president of Sinn Féin. She had not foreseen De Valera walking out of the party, believing he would accept the vote against his motion and was greatly bittered when he left, condemning him. At
10824-545: The people at the critical moment; they have sometimes sold them. The former Volunteer movement was abandoned by its leaders; O'Connell recoiled before the cannon at Clontarf ; twice the hour of the Irish revolution struck during Young Ireland days and twice it struck in vain, for Meagher hesitated in Waterford , Duffy and McGee hesitated in Dublin. Stephens refused to give the word in '65 ; he never came in '66 or '67. I do not blame these men; you or I might have done
10947-557: 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
11070-492: 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 )
11193-488: 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
11316-647: 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
11439-630: The same. It is a terrible responsibility to be cast on a man, that of bidding the cannon speak and the grapeshot pour. The Volunteers split, one of the issues being support for the Allied and the British war effort. A majority followed Redmond into the National Volunteers in the belief that this would ensure Home Rule on their return. Pearse, exhilarated by the dramatic events of the European war, wrote in an article in December 1915: It
11562-584: The street that is named after them today. It was here that their father, James Pearse, established a stonemasonry business in the 1850s, a business which flourished and provided the Pearses with a comfortable middle-class upbringing. Pearse's father was a mason and monumental sculptor, and originally a Unitarian from Birmingham in England. His mother, Margaret Brady , was from Dublin, and her father's family were native Irish speakers from County Meath . She
11685-659: The treaty, matters would not be solved there and would explode into the Irish Civil War , with split the Irish Republican Army into the National Army (Ireland) supporting the newly formed Irish Free State , and the Anti-Treaty IRA who stood against it. MacSwiney backed the Anti-Treaty IRA. MacSwiney was arrested at Nell Ryan's home (a safe house) in Ballsbridge on 4 November 1922 after it
11808-726: 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
11931-579: The voters, declaring "no true Irish citizen can vote for any of the other parties". MacSwiney continued her efforts to reinvigorate the party but when Cumann na nGaedheal lost the 1932 election, she felt there was less need for the extreme oppositional position she had previously taken. However, the fragmentation of the rigid republican side continued with the membership also drifting to the left, which MacSwiney opposed. In 1933 MacSwiney resigned from Cumann na mBan, and founded Mná na Poblachta instead. In 1934 she resigned from Sinn Féin when Fr Michael O'Flanagan
12054-589: The wake of Terance's death, Mary and Muriel MacSwiney embarked on a seven-month tour (1920–1921) of the United States, intended to raise awareness of the Irish cause in America. As part of the tour she gave evidence in Washington, D.C., before the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland. Mary MacSwiney ended up paying a considerable amount of money of her own to cover the costs of the tour. At
12177-474: The war: This matter has been put to us as the Treaty or war. I say now if it were war, I would take it gladly and gleefully, not flippantly, but gladly, because I realise that there are evils worse than war, and no physical victory can compensate for a spiritual surrender. On 21 December MacSwiney spoke for 2 hours and 41 minutes against the treaty, the longest speech by any member during the debates, criticising
12300-594: 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
12423-622: Was "objectionable". Pearse wrote stories and poems in both Irish and English. His best-known English poems include "The Mother", "The Fool", " The Rebel " and "The Wayfarer". He also wrote several allegorical plays in the Irish language , including The King , The Master , and The Singer . His short stories in Irish include Eoghainín na nÉan ("Eoineen of the Birds"), Íosagán ("Little Jesus"), An Gadaí ("The Thief"), Na Bóithre ("The Roads"), and An Bhean Chaointe ("The Keening Woman"). These were translated into English by Joseph Campbell (in
12546-432: Was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland". In an article entitled "The Coming Revolution" (November 1913) Pearse wrote: As to what your work as an Irish Nationalist is to be, I cannot conjecture; I know what mine is to be, and would have you know yours and buckle yourselves to it. And it may be (nay, it is) that your and mine will lead us to a common meeting-place, and that on
12669-465: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to
12792-711: Was James' second wife; James had two children, Emily and James, from his first marriage (two other children died in infancy). Pearse's maternal grandfather Patrick was a supporter of the 1848 Young Ireland movement, and later a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Pearse recalled a visiting ballad singer performing republican songs during his childhood; afterwards, he went around looking for armed men ready to fight, but finding none, declared sadly to his grandfather that "the Fenians are all dead". His maternal grand-uncle, James Savage, fought in
12915-467: Was Pearse who, on behalf of the IRB shortly before Easter in 1916, issued the orders to all Volunteer units throughout the country for three days of manoeuvres beginning on Easter Sunday, which was the signal for a general uprising. When Eoin MacNeill , the Chief of Staff of the Volunteers, learned what was being planned without the promised arms from Germany, he countermanded the orders via newspaper, causing
13038-531: 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
13161-417: Was an Irish teacher, barrister , poet , writer, nationalist , republican political activist and revolutionary who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion. Pearse, his brother Willie , and his sisters Margaret and Mary Brigid were born at 27 Great Brunswick Street , Dublin,
13284-564: Was attracted to young boys. His most recent biographer, Joost Augusteijn , concluded that "it seems most probable that he was sexually inclined this way". Fitzgerald and Walker maintain that there is absolutely no evidence of homosexuality or paedophilia ; they allege that Pearse's apparent lack of sexual interest in women, and his "ascetic" and celibate lifestyle are consistent with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism . Cultural historian Elaine Sisson has further said that Pearse's interest in and idealization of young boys needs to be seen in
13407-727: Was awarded a B.A. in Modern Languages (Irish, English and French) by the Royal University of Ireland , for which he had studied for two years privately and for one at University College Dublin . In the same year, he was enrolled as a Barrister-at-Law at the King's Inns . Pearse was called to the bar in 1901. In 1905, Pearse represented Neil McBride , a poet and songwriter from Feymore, Creeslough , County Donegal , who had been fined for having his name displayed in "illegible" writing (i.e. Irish) on his donkey cart. The appeal
13530-466: Was challenged in the early 1970s, has been addressed to suggest that Pearse's theological foundations for his political ideas share in a long-existing tradition in western Christianity. Former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described Pearse as one of his heroes and displayed a picture of Pearse over his desk in the Department of the Taoiseach . Pearse's mother Margaret Pearse served as
13653-584: Was elected president since he was a Free State civil servant. In 1936 the IRA killed 72-year-old retired British vice-admiral Boyle Somerville and an alleged informer John Egan. De Valera unambiguously condemned the killings but MacSwiney equivocated, stating "that if any man was shot by the IRA, he was shot for being a spy". The entire incident pushed MacSwiney into pulling what little support she had been giving to Fianna Fáil and into backing violent militant republicanism. When newly elected IRA Chief-of-Staff Seán Russell reached out to republican former members of
13776-611: 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
13899-628: 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. Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse ; Irish : Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais ; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916)
14022-529: Was explained she was distributing anti-government propaganda. After nineteen days of hunger strike she was due to be released on 30 April 1923. The Governor allowed O'Callaghan to go, but stayed a decision on MacSwiney. Most of the women on hunger strike were sent to the North Dublin Union . The 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes saw several thousand of the 12,000 republican prisoners on hunger strikes in Irish prisons/internment camps across Ireland, protesting
14145-468: Was heard before the Court of King's Bench in Dublin. It was Pearse's first and only court appearance as a barrister. The case was lost but it became a symbol of the struggle for Irish independence. In his 27 June 1905 An Claidheamh Soluis column, Pearse wrote of the decision, "it was in effect decided that Irish is a foreign language on the same level with Yiddish." As a cultural nationalist educated by
14268-474: 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
14391-458: Was raided by Free State soldiers. She was taken to Mountjoy Gaol , where she was interned. She immediately went on hunger strike . Cumann na mBan organized vigils outside the prison in protest of Mary's and others' internment. The Women's Prisoner's Defence League was formed in August 1922 to protect their rights. During the hunger strike she refused doctor visits. She was resigned to her death, and
14514-693: 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
14637-673: Was suspended for the duration of the First World War . John Redmond feared that his "national authority" might be circumvented by the Volunteers and decided to try to take control of the new movement. Despite opposition from the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Volunteer Executive agreed to share leadership with Redmond and a joint committee was set up. Pearse was opposed to this and was to write: The leaders in Ireland have nearly always left
14760-413: Was then one of many people who were members of both the IRB and the Volunteers. When he became the Volunteers' Director of Military Organisation in 1914 he was the highest ranking Volunteer in the IRB membership, and instrumental in the latter's commandeering of the remaining minority of the Volunteers for the purpose of rebellion. By 1915 he was on the IRB's Supreme Council, and its secret Military Council,
14883-432: Was to be sent to London, that for the first time included Michael Collins. MacSwiney, who remained implacably opposed pleaded with Éamon De Valera to be allowed to go. She was refused as Éamon De Valera thought her "too extreme." Following the signing of Anglo-Irish Treaty , MacSwiney made clear her utter opposition to it during debates in the Dáil between December 1921 to January 1922, declaring she would prefer to resume
15006-490: Was too chaotic for Máire, and that she should remain in Ireland with her aunt Mary. A distraught Muriel sent Máire one final letter ordering her to return to her side or she would never speak to her again; when Máire did not return, Muriel kept her promise and the two never reconcided despite many attempts from Máire's side. Máire finished her education in Scoil Íte which MacSwiney had founded and continued to manage and work in as
15129-442: 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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