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94-616: The Springfield Road ( Irish : Bóthar Chluanaí ) is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare adjacent to the Falls Road in west Belfast . The local population is predominantly Irish nationalist and republican . Along parts of the road are several interface area with the neighbouring Ulster loyalist areas of the Greater Shankill . The Springfield Road includes the Ballymurphy and New Barnsley districts and

188-547: 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

282-717: 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

376-575: 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

470-478: 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,

564-516: A culture of summary justice , where the local PIRA handed out punishment beatings and knee-cappings to those deemed guilty of "antisocial behaviour", in Turf Lodge. During the Troubles an army base, Fort Monagh, was located on the estate. St Clare's Primary School on the lower part of the road was built in 2005 as an amalgamation of two earlier schools. Springfield Primary School, further along

658-553: 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

752-478: A dip in the landscape, to protect from Atlantic winds, but others stretch haphazardly along main roads. The word is composed of two elements, clach / cloch meaning "stone" and the masculine diminutive suffix -an / -án . It originally denoted one of two things: This should not be confused with the Scottish Gaelic plural of clach which is clachan "stones", a homonym . In the meaning of "causeway",

846-460: 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

940-566: A number of killings on the Springfield Road during the Troubles. On 28 May 1972 they shot and killed a Catholic civilian on the road and another in Whiterock Gardens on 4 February 1974 whilst on 9 April 1976 they exploded a no-warning bomb at Divis Castle Bar killing another Catholic civilian. Another Catholic civilian killed at his home on 12 September 1979 and again in the same circumstances on 25 June 1987. On 10 March 1989

1034-667: A number of peace lines are in existence due to continuing low level violence and vandalism. Ainsworth Avenue, which formerly linked the Springfield Road to the Woodvale Road is closed off as are the points at which Kirk Street and Workman Avenue in the Woodvale area touch Springfield and the parts of the Highfield estate that border the Springfield Road Limited access is still possible through Lanark Way with

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1128-585: 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

1222-575: 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

1316-625: 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

1410-651: A religious mission in Ballymurphy and lived in the area for around a year. A further housing estate, Turf Lodge, lies beyond the Springfield Road, sandwiched between the Whiterock Road, the Monagh Bypass and the Glen Road. The area was built in the late 1950s to house excess people from the overcrowded districts of the lower Falls. The area had formerly been occupied by the Turf Lodge Farm and so

1504-547: 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

1598-740: A security guard was killed outside the Orient Bar in an attack claimed by the Protestant Action Force , a UVF cover name. and On 26 June 1993 loyalists rioted when the RUC prevented an Orange Order march near a peace line in the area. On Ainsworth Avenue, a UVF member was wounded when the grenade he was holding exploded prematurely. Eighteen people were wounded. He died three days later. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),

1692-560: A small facility maintained by Belfast City Council . The Farset International budget accommodation and conference facility is contained within Springfield Park. Clonard Monastery is also located close to the Springfield Road. The loyalist Highfield estate borders onto the Springfield Road around West Circular Road and this area provides access to the Ballygomartin Road, a predominantly Protestant area that links to

1786-604: A special school, is found on Belfield Heights near where the Springfield Road merges into the Monagh By-pass. Gort na Mona GAC , a Gaelic Athletic Association whose origins lie in the Turf Lodge area of west Belfast, have their current headquarters on the Springfield Road. Lámh Dhearg GAC are also based in the area, on Hannahstown Hill. Football club Iveagh United F.C. , who play in the Northern Amateur Football League , were formed in

1880-462: A unit of the Scots Guards was deployed in preparation for trouble later that night. When the bands returned sectarian clashes broke out and soon developed into a full-scale riot as the soldiers struggled to maintain order. A heavier, more forceful, army presence was deployed in Ballymurphy the following night and in anger the residents attacked the soldiers. Three nights of rioting followed, with

1974-545: 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

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2068-603: 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

2162-452: 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

2256-795: Is covered by the Belfast West constituency for the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the seat represented by Sinn Féin's Paul Maskey , who was elected at a 2011 by-election following the resignation of Gerry Adams to contest a seat in the 2011 Irish general election . The same area is used for the Northern Ireland Assembly with the five seats held by Órlaithí Flynn , Fra McCann , Alex Maskey , Pat Sheehan of Sinn Féin and Gerry Carroll of PBP. The Workers' Party maintains its northern headquarters near

2350-511: 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

2444-587: 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

2538-402: Is overlooked by Black Mountain and Divis . Much of what now forms the housing estates of the Springfield Road was formerly rural land near the base of the mountains. The area around what became New Barnsley was known as Brown's Fields and was formerly used for grazing cattle. The area would later become industrialised with James Mackie & Sons establishing a textile factory on the road in

2632-412: 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

2726-666: 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

2820-541: The British Army who maintained that they were only returning fire after being shot at by republicans. Families of the victims however have been involved in a long campaign to seek acknowledgement from the British government that their relatives were not involved in any attacks on the soldiers. The Springhill Massacre , which followed in 1972 and was also said to be a case of soldiers killing civilians, also occurred on

2914-607: The Great Famine in Ireland (1845–49) caused such disruption to the social system that the clachans there virtually disappeared; many in the Scottish Highlands were victims of the Clearances . In some cases, they have evolved into holiday villages, or one or two houses have taken over, turning smaller houses into agricultural outhouses. Remains can be seen in many upland and coastal areas. Some are clustered in

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3008-829: The M1 motorway . From the Grosvenor Road to the junction with the West Circular Road it forms part of the B38 whilst from there after it is part of the A55 . The areas at the start of the Springfield Road are made up largely of social housing with some shops on the main road itself. These form part of the Edenderry and Clonard districts that are also part of the Falls Road. As this area is close to neighbouring loyalist estates

3102-637: The Progressive Unionist Party and Jolene Bunting of the Traditional Unionist Voice as councillors. Black Mountain however is strongly Nationalist/Republican and elected as its seven councillors Janice Austin, Ciarán Beattie, Arder Carson, Steven Corr and Emma Groves of Sinn Féin, Tim Attwood of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit (PBP). The area

3196-631: 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 ")

3290-634: 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

3384-670: 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

3478-403: 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

3572-571: 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

3666-751: The B38, a minor road that links Belfast with the village of Glenavy . The Springfield Road is divided between the Court and Black Mountain District Electoral Areas of Belfast City Council . Court, which includes the Clonard ward covering the lower part of the road, is a mainly Unionist/Loyalist area and in the 2014 election returned Brian Kingston and Frank McCoubrey of the Democratic Unionist Party , Mary McConville and Jim McVeigh of Sinn Féin , Billy Hutchinson of

3760-471: 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

3854-618: The First Battalion (the Ballymurphy unit) and the Second Battalion (units around Clonard). Its political arm, Provisional Sinn Féin , emerged on the Springfield Road with the first cumann established in Clonard by Proinsias MacAirt closely followed by the Ballymurphy cumann under Liam McParland. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station on the road was also used as a barracks by the British Army resulting in

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3948-549: 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

4042-566: The Pound Loney, was amongst those to be rehoused in this manner. The Springfield Road starts on the lower Falls Road, forming a continuation of the Grosvenor Road, which links the Falls to Belfast city centre . The road continues north-west before turning sharply in a more south-westerly direction. It eventually merges into the Monagh by-pass which links the area with Kennedy Way and ultimately

4136-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,

4230-563: The Shankill Road. Close to the West Circular Road on the Springfield Road is the Whiterock Orange Hall . Parades to and from this hall, which pass areas of Catholic housing, have resulted in tension and rioting from as early as 1970. In October 2005 the hall was targeted in an arson attack. The housing adjacent to Highfield is known as New Barnsley. New Barnsley took its name from a clachan near Springfield Park which

4324-497: The Springfield Road and the Whiterock Road is commonly known as Ballymurphy after the Ballymurphy Road. Springhill and Glenalina form part of this area. The housing in Ballymurphy was first built in 1947 when the council erected 600 concrete houses on a site acquired to cope with the rising population of the city. The area is bordered by the Whiterock Road, which links the Falls Road with the Ballygomartin Road and intersects

4418-480: The Springfield Road at Ballymurphy. The Whiterock area is older than Ballymurphy, dating back to the 1920s. Previously known as Kill Pipers Hill, the area had belonged William Sinclair, Lord Glenalina, whose title is commemorated in the area. Springhill Millennium Park, a public facility, is located in this area whilst Belfast City Cemetery is also located in the Whiterock area. Whiterock Leisure Centre, located on

4512-401: The Springfield Road included the killing of a British soldier by a sniper on 8 April 1972, the death of a civilian in a car bomb on 26 March 1974, the killing of an alleged informer on 20 April that same year and a further soldier death on 30 June 1976. On 14 May 1981 an RUC officer was killed when his patrol vehicle was hit by an IRA rocket on Springfield Road and on 14 October 1982 a bomb attack

4606-403: The Springfield Road. The Springfield Road has long been a stronghold of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and following the 1969 split in the Irish Republican Army the Ballymurphy unit of the Belfast Brigade was one of the first to declare its loyalty to the Provisional IRA. Following a reorganisation of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade the Springfield Road was divided between

4700-423: The Troubles. New Barnsley Protestants mostly settled in houses left vacant by fleeing Catholics in the Greater Shankill and vice versa. A notorious incident in the road's history was the Ballymurphy Massacre , the deaths of eleven civilians that occurred on the road between 9 and 11 August 1971 during the implementation of Operation Demetrius . The killings were carried out by members of the Parachute Regiment of

4794-416: The Whiterock Road, was in 1984 the scene of a notorious incident when, following the erection of an Irish tricolour , Democratic Unionist Party politician George Seawright led a group of loyalists, including UVF members John Bingham and William 'Frenchie' Marchant , wielding legally held handguns to physically remove it. Such were the levels of poverty in the area that in 1971 Mother Teresa established

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4888-422: The area during the Troubles. Under Charles Harding Smith the UDA, in their initial claimed role of defending Protestant communities were the first to erect temporary barricades on Ainsworth Avenue blocking the route between the Shankill and Springfield roads. These have since become permanent peace lines. On 13 September 1972 the UDA opened fire inside the Catholic-owned Divis Castle Bar on Springfield Road, killing

4982-400: The area in the early 1960s although they have since left the area and are now based in the Twinbrook area of Dunmurry . Holy Trinity Boxing Club is located in Turf Lodge and it has developed a strong reputation in amateur boxing , with champions at a variety of age groups fighting out of the club. Damaen Kelly , a double bronze medallist at amateur level and a triple weight champion in

5076-486: The army make heavy use of CS gas canisters and grenades in a largely unsuccessful attempt to break up the crowds. The Protestant population of New Barnsley moved out of the area soon after this event. Some individuals who would go on to become leading figures within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) lived on the Springfield Road until the outbreak of the Troubles, notably Ballymurphy native John White and Andy Tyrie , who lived in both Ballymurphy and New Barnsley before

5170-577: 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

5264-664: 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

5358-414: 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

5452-430: 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

5546-449: The following year with fierce fighting occurring at the interface between Catholic Ballymurphy and the then Protestant New Barnsley areas. The trouble began on 31 March 1970 when junior Orange Order bands heading to Bangor, County Down began to play their tunes on the Springfield Road early in the morning before travelling to the North Down coast. Although the bands left without incident crowds of angry residents gathered in Ballymurphy and

5640-498: 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

5734-410: 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

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5828-425: 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 ,

5922-408: The late nineteenth century. It became a leading employer and produced large quantities of munitions during the Second World War . The area experienced growth in the 1940s when a series of housing estates were built. The pattern of segregation in Northern Ireland was maintained as the new estates were populated along denominational lines. The Highfield and New Barnsley estates on the northern side of

6016-399: 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

6110-497: 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

6204-411: The name was retained for the new estate. Much of the housing was of a low standard, consisting of blocks of flats and maisonettes, although following a campaign by local women in the 1970s some of the lowest quality housing stock was demolished and redeveloped. The estate is encircled by ring roads, a state of affairs which has helped to encourage joyriding amongst local " hoods ". This in turn engendered

6298-409: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them

6392-522: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as

6486-448: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish

6580-456: The owner's son. On 5 September 1973 the UDA, under its Ulster Freedom Fighters code name, claimed responsibility for a no warning car bomb that caused extensive damage to property but no loss of life after the area was evacuated. Later that same year they shot and killed a Catholic outside his place of work on the road. This was followed on 22 November 1974 by the killing of a Catholic woman at her Springfield Road workplace. UDA hitman Sam McCrory

6674-415: 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

6768-595: The professional game, trained at the club. The row of cottages that made up the New Barnsley clachan was formerly the "terminus" for public transport, the limit of local bus services. However Springfield Road is no longer one of the twelve main corridors of Translink , which provides the Metro bus service in Belfast, and the road is served only by the irregular 80 and 81 services. Both the Springfield Road itself and

6862-492: 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 )

6956-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need

7050-712: 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

7144-486: The road becoming a significant centre in the conflict between the British military and Irish republican groups. One such event occurred on 25 May 1971 when a bomb was thrown into the base, killing army Sergeant Michael Willetts as he shielded civilians from the blast with his body. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross . Seven RUC officers, two British soldiers and 18 civilians were injured. An IRA rocket attack

7238-405: The road predominantly Protestant and the Ballymurphy estate earmarked for a mainly Catholic population. The area saw an influx of temporary residents in the 1960s when the inhabitants of the Pound Loney area of the lower Falls were temporarily rehoused in Ballymurphy whilst the new Divis flats complex was built. A young Gerry Adams , who had been involved in agitation against the redevelopment of

7332-440: The road, dates back to 1910. There are no secondary schools on the road, although there are several on the neighbouring Falls Road. Gort Na Móna Secondary School was located on the road from 1971 to 1988 before closing after merging with other Catholic schools in the area to form Corpus Christi College. A branch of Belfast Metropolitan College is located on the adjacent Whiterock Road whilst St Gerard's Education Resource Centre,

7426-496: The start of the Springfield Road. Streets leading off the Springfield Road were at the centre of the 1969 riots which were among the earliest incidents to occur during the Troubles. Kashmir Road, which leads directly off the lower Springfield Road, was the site of a series of arson attacks on homes, along with Cupar Street and Bombay Street, both of which are between the Springfield, Falls and Shankill Roads . Rioting returned

7520-571: The street linking the Springfield and Shankill roads, albeit with gates that can be locked. The street was favoured by hitmen associated with the UDA West Belfast Brigade to gain access to the republican districts of the west of the city, notably Stephen McKeag who nicknamed the street the Yellow Brick Road. Other features of the area include Springvale Industrial Estate and Business Park as well as Springfield Park,

7614-726: 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

7708-532: The western parts of Belfast as a whole were noted for their traffic congestion and so in 1978 the Monagh Bypass was opened near Springfield Road to provide an alternative route. The Bypass however is largely unfinished after it was discovered that much of the area around the foothills was impassable and so congestion remains an issue. After the Bypass the Upper Springfield Road marks the beginning of

7802-594: 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

7896-531: 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

7990-524: Was burned down during the Troubles. The area is divided from the Highfield estate by a large peace line that runs the length of the Springmartin Road. New Barnsley Police Service of Northern Ireland station is located at the Springfield Road end of the peace line and is the main police presence on the road following the 2002 closure of the old Springfield Road RUC station. The area between

8084-505: Was carried out on an army foot patrol in Ballymurphy. One of the deadliest IRA attacks in the area occurred on 25 March 1982 when three British soldiers were killed and five other people injured in a gun attack on Crocus Street, off the Springfield Road. It is believed an M60 machine gun was used during the attack. An Ulster Defence Regiment soldier was also killed on the road by Irish National Liberation Army on 29 September 1981. Loyalist paramilitaries frequently targeted people living in

8178-668: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build

8272-507: 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. Clachan According to David Lloyd,

8366-514: Was given his first assignment and on 9 October 1987, Francisco Notarantonio, a 66-year-old who had been interned in 1971 but had not been active for more than 40 years, was shot dead at his home in Ballymurphy, in a hit said to have been organised the British agent Brian Nelson . The UDA largely abandoned activity in the Springfield Road until the 1990s when they claimed three separate civilian murders on 3 September 1991, 28 April 1992 and 27 April 1994. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) has committed

8460-476: Was launched on 20 September 1987 with no casualties. The base was attacked again on 27 December 1993 when the IRA ended their traditional Christmas truce with a series of attacks on RUC and army bases, including a car bomb outside Springfield Road station. The final attack came on 30 August 1994 when the base was bombed at the same time as a mortar bomb was launched at the nearby Whiterock army base. Other IRA attacks on

8554-418: Was launched on the barracks on 1 January 1973 injuring two people whilst on 28 October 1979 a soldier and a policeman were killed in a machine gun attack on the barracks. On 20 September 1982 a British soldier was killed when an IRA unit fired a rocket at his observation post at the barracks whilst on 2 May 1987 an IRA volunteer was killed in a premature bomb explosion during an attack on the base. A mortar attack

8648-474: 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

8742-693: 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

8836-495: 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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