160-512: The Workers' Party ( Irish : Páirtí na nOibrithe ) is an Irish republican , Marxist–Leninist communist party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland . The party formerly asserted a claim of direct descent from the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith . It took its current form in 1970 following a division within Sinn Féin, in which
320-475: A New Ireland , is the proposition that all of the island of Ireland should be a single sovereign state . At present, the island is divided politically: the sovereign state of Ireland (legally described also as the Republic of Ireland ) has jurisdiction over the majority of Ireland, while Northern Ireland , which lies entirely within (but consists of only 6 of 9 counties of) the Irish province of Ulster ,
480-547: 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
640-688: A united Ireland , and finally a socialist society would be created in Ireland. In 1974, the Official Republican Movement split over the ceasefire and the direction of the organisation. This led to the formation of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) with Seamus Costello (whom the Official IRA had expelled) as its chairperson. Also formed on the same day was IRSP's paramilitary wing,
800-640: A Protestant, became leader in 1880, and the organisation became the Irish National League in 1882. Despite the religion of its early leaders, its support was strongly associated with Irish Catholics. In 1886, Parnell formed a parliamentary alliance with Liberal Party Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and secured the introduction of the First Home Rule Bill . This was opposed by the Conservative Party and led to
960-717: 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
1120-575: 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
1280-463: A claim which it made in respect of the entire island. Supporters of this Declaration fought in the Irish War of Independence . During this period, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 repealed the previous 1914 Act, and provided for two separate devolved parliaments in Ireland. It defined Northern Ireland as "the parliamentary counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and
1440-478: 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,
1600-553: 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
1760-460: 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
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#17327986648731920-654: A group called the Official Republican Movement, which announced in 2010 that it had decommissioned its weapons. The Workers' Party has struggled since the early 1990s to rejuvenate its fortunes in both Irish jurisdictions. The Workers' Party maintains a youth wing, Workers' Party Youth, and a Women's Committee. It also had offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Waterford. Apart from its political work at home in Ireland, it has sent party delegations to international gatherings of communist and socialist parties. The party supported an independent anti-sectarian candidate, John Gilliland, in
2080-662: A new party which was temporarily known as "New Agenda" before the permanent name of "Democratic Left" was adopted. In the South the rump of the party was left with seven councillors and one TD . In the North, before the 1992 split, the party had four councillors – Tom French stayed with the party, Gerry Cullen (Dungannon) and Seamus Lynch (Belfast) joined New Agenda/Democratic Left, and David Kettyles ran in subsequent elections in Fermanagh as an Independent or Progressive Socialist. While
2240-585: 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
2400-575: 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
2560-519: A permanent ceasefire in May 1972. Following this, the movement's political development increased rapidly throughout the 1970s. On the national question, the Officials saw the struggle against religious sectarianism and bigotry as their primary task. The party's strategy stemmed from the "stages theory": firstly, working-class unity within Northern Ireland had to be achieved, followed by the establishment of
2720-601: A position of becoming part of an existing EU member state, rather than seeking to join the EU as a new independent state." Enda Kenny pointed to the provisions that allowed East Germany to join the West and the EEC during the reunification of Germany as a precedent. In April 2017 the European Council acknowledged that, in the event of Irish unification, "the entire territory of such a united Ireland would [...] be part of
2880-472: A referendum on Irish reunification , sought to push him out of the organisation. Historically the Workers' Party opposed a border poll on the basis it would be "sectarian" and pit Nationalists against Unionists, and argued instead that the solution to Northern Ireland would be to unite both groups under the banner of Internationalist Socialism. Tynan and his supporters seek to retain the old position. In 2023,
3040-625: 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
3200-541: A response to the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland. In 2016, the party published Solidarity Housing, a public housing policy that proposed a cost-rental housing model for Ireland. Later that year, a Workers' Party motion for 100% mixed-income public housing on the publicly owned O'Devaney Gardens site in the north inner city was passed by Dublin City Councillors, but was later overturned after an intervention by Minister for Housing Simon Coveney . The party retains
3360-492: 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
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#17327986648733520-868: A split in the Liberal Party, the Liberal Unionist Party . Opposition in Ireland was concentrated in the heavily Protestant counties in Ulster. The difference in religious background was a legacy of the Ulster Plantation in the early seventeenth century. In 1893, the Second Home Rule Bill passed in the House of Commons, but was defeated in the House of Lords, where the Conservatives dominated. A Third Home Rule Bill
3680-516: A survey showed supporters of the Union in the minority in Northern Ireland for the first time, at 48.6%, while supporters of Irish unity were 33.76%. Article 3.1 of the Constitution of Ireland "recognises that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island". This provision
3840-580: A tradition of secularism. In April 2017, Councillor Éilis Ryan organised a demonstration against the proposed control of the new National Maternity Hospital by the Religious Sisters of Charity . The Workers' Party campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum to repeal the Eighth amendment in May 2018, having been the only party in the Dáil to oppose the introduction of the Eighth amendment in 1983. At
4000-522: A united Ireland. In the 2017 Assembly election , the DUP lost ten seats and came just one seat ahead of Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin used this opportunity to call for a Northern Ireland referendum on a united Ireland. The Brexit Secretary , David Davis , confirmed to Mark Durkan , the SDLP MP for Foyle , that in the event of Northern Ireland becoming part of a united Ireland, "Northern Ireland would be in
4160-700: A united Ireland. It specifies that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland "shall exercise the power [to hold a referendum] if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland". Such referendums may not take place within seven years of each other. The Northern Ireland Act 1998 supersedes previous similar legislative provisions. The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 also provided that Northern Ireland remained part of
4320-545: 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
4480-603: 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
4640-452: 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
4800-511: 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
4960-587: 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
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5120-469: Is part of the United Kingdom . Achieving a united Ireland is a central tenet of Irish nationalism and Republicanism , particularly of both mainstream and dissident republican political and paramilitary organisations. Unionists support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom and oppose Irish unification. Ireland has been partitioned since May 1921, when the implementation of
5280-681: Is passed the month begins in which we will have to make the choice either to vote out or remain within the Free State". He said it was important that that choice be made as soon as possible after 6 December 1922 "in order that it may not go forth to the world that we had the slightest hesitation". On 7 December 1922, the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State, the Houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland resolved to make
5440-412: 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
5600-666: 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
5760-680: The 1918 election Sinn Féin won 73 of the 105 seats; however, there was a strong regional divide, with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) winning 23 of the 38 seats in Ulster. Sinn Féin had run on a manifesto of abstaining from the United Kingdom House of Commons , and from 1919 met in Dublin as Dáil Éireann . At its first meeting, the Dáil adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Irish Republic ,
5920-564: The 1977 Northern Ireland local elections , this fell to six council seats and 2.6% of the vote. One of their best results was when Tom French polled 19% in the 1986 Upper Bann by-election , although no other candidates stood against the sitting MP and a year later, when other parties contested the constituency, he only polled 4.7% of the vote. Three councillors left the party during the split in 1992. Davy Kettyles became an independent 'Progressive Socialist' while Gerry Cullen in Dungannon and
6080-782: The 2009 local elections . The party ran Malachy Steenson in the Dublin Central by-election on the same date. Ted Tynan was elected to Cork City Council in the Cork City North East ward. Davy Walsh retained his seat in Waterford City Council . In the 2014 local elections Tynan retained his seat; however Walsh lost his, following major boundary changes resulting from the merging of Waterford City and County councils. In January 2015, Independent councillor Éilis Ryan on Dublin City Council joined
6240-569: The 2019 local elections , Éilís Ryan lost her seat on Dublin City Council, leaving Ted Tynan as the party's only elected representative in Ireland. In November 2020, the Standards in Public Office Commission announced that the Workers' Party were one of five political parties who failed to provide them with a set of audited accounts for 2019, in breach of statutory obligations. In April 2021, The Phoenix reported that at
6400-790: The Anglo-Irish Treaty , which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State the following year, a dominion within the British Empire . With respect to Northern Ireland, Articles 11 and 12 of the Treaty made special provision for it including as follows: The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland , Sir James Craig , speaking in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland in October 1922 said that "when 6 December [1922]
6560-535: The European Union (EU). The decision had increased the perceived likelihood of a united Ireland, in order to avoid the possible requirement for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, though the imposition of a hard border has not, as yet, eventuated. Fine Gael Taoiseach Enda Kenny successfully negotiated that in the event of reunification, Northern Ireland will become part of
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6720-516: The Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the states of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, with the former becoming independent, and the other petitioning to remain a part of the UK. The Anglo-Irish Treaty , which led to the establishment in December 1922 of a dominion called the Irish Free State , recognised partition, but this was opposed by anti-Treaty republicans. When
6880-603: The Home Rule Movement , and advocated the end of partition. It had a continuous presence in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1921 to 1972, but was in permanent opposition to the UUP government. A new Constitution of Ireland was proposed by Éamon de Valera in 1937 and approved by the voters of the Irish Free State (thereafter simply Ireland). Articles 2 and 3 of this Constitution claimed
7040-603: The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). A number of tit-for-tat killings occurred in a subsequent feud until a truce was agreed in 1977. In 1977, the party published and accepted as policy a document called the Irish Industrial Revolution . Written by Eoghan Harris and Eamon Smullen, it outlined the party's economic stance and declared that the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland was "distracting working class attention from
7200-893: The Irish Parliamentary Party . It was signed into law in September 1914 in the midst of the Home Rule Crisis and at the outbreak of the First World War . On the same day, the Suspensory Act 1914 suspended its actual operation. In 1916, a group of revolutionaries led by the Irish Republican Brotherhood launched the Easter Rising , during which they issued a Proclamation of the Irish Republic . The rebellion
7360-438: The Northern Ireland Act 1998 on the form of a future referendum on a united Ireland. In essence the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement provided the opportunity for self determination and mutual respect. Those born in Northern Ireland could identify as Irish, British or both and would be entitled to hold a passport from both, or either country. The freedom of movement, allowed citizens of either jurisdiction to live in which ever part of
7520-443: The Northern Ireland Forum with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK Unionist Party , and it was supported by all parties in the Oireachtas . It was also opposed by dissident republicans , including Republican Sinn Féin and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement . It was approved in referendums in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland . Included in the Agreement were provisions which became part of
7680-445: The Official Irish Republican Army . By the late 1980s, the party had broken through electorally in the Republic of Ireland and at its peak it elected 7 TDs at the 1989 general election and 21 councillors at the 1991 local elections . However, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, almost all the party's elected members broke away and formed Democratic Left in 1992. Since 1992
7840-409: The Parliament of Northern Ireland sat from 1921 to 1972, the Parliament of Southern Ireland was suspended after its first meeting was boycotted by the Sinn Féin members, who comprised 124 of its 128 MPs. A truce in the War of Independence was called in July 1921, followed by negotiations in London between the government of the United Kingdom and a Sinn Féin delegation. On 6 December 1921, they signed
8000-512: 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 ")
8160-410: The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and People Before Profit (PBP) had campaigned for a Leave vote. Irish politicians began the discussion regarding possible changes to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The status and treatment of Northern Ireland and Gibraltar , the only parts under control of the United Kingdom which would have new land borders with the EU following
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#17327986648738320-471: The UK withdrawal , became important to the negotiations, along with access to the regional development assistance scheme (and new funding thereof) from the European Union. Sinn Féin cited these concerns as the basis for new discussion on a united Ireland. These calls were rejected by the British government and Unionist politicians, with Theresa Villiers arguing that there was no evidence that opinion in Northern Ireland had shifted towards being in favour of
8480-428: The peace process . The agreement acknowledged nationalism and unionism as "equally legitimate, political aspirations". In the Northern Ireland Assembly , all members would designate as Unionist, Nationalist, or Other, and certain measures would require cross-community support. The agreement was signed by the governments of Ireland and of the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland, it was supported by all parties who were in
8640-412: The "Provisional Army Council" and its party and military wing as Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA, while those remaining became known as Official Sinn Féin and the Official IRA . Official Sinn Féin, under the leadership of Tomás Mac Giolla , remained aligned to Goulding's Official IRA. A key factor in the split was the desire of those who became the Provisionals to make military action the key object of
8800-450: The "Sticks" or "Stickies" because in the 1970s it used adhesive stickers for the Easter Lily emblem in its 1916 commemorations, whereas Provisional Sinn Féin used a pin for theirs. The modern origins of the party date from the early 1960s. After the failure of the then IRA's 1956–1962 border campaign , the republican movement, with a new military and political leadership, undertook a complete reappraisal of its raison d'être . Through
8960-400: The 'new' country are forced into it against their will and have no allegiance to it nor incentive for it to succeed. A fear of political, civil and economic turmoil and a lack of protection for minority rights, as experienced by the Catholic community in Northern Ireland and the Protestant community in the Republic of Ireland historically, is a key driver towards the desire for the maintenance of
9120-400: 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
9280-411: The 1960s, some leading figures in the movement, such as Cathal Goulding , Seán Garland , Billy McMillen , Tomás Mac Giolla , moved steadily to the left, even to Marxism , as a result of their own reading and thinking and contacts with the Irish and international left. This angered more traditional republicans, who wanted to stick to the national question and armed struggle. Also involved in this debate
9440-604: 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
9600-408: The 2004 European elections in Northern Ireland. Waterford City remained a holdout for the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 1997 general election , Martin O'Regan narrowly failed to secure a seat in Waterford . However, in February 2008, John Halligan of Waterford resigned from the party when it refused to drop its opposition to service charges. He was later elected a TD for Waterford in
9760-415: The 2011 general election. The party's sole remaining councillor in Waterford lost his seat in the 2014 local elections . Michael Donnelly, a Galway-based university lecturer, was elected as the party President at the party's Ard Fheis on 27 September 2014 on the retirement of Mick Finnegan . The Workers' Party called for a No vote against the Treaty of Lisbon in both the June 2008 referendum , in which
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#17327986648739920-403: 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
10080-466: 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
10240-415: The Conservative led government through the Brexit negotiation process. The 2020 Brexit withdrawal agreement included the Northern Ireland Protocol , which established different trade rules for the territory than Great Britain. While Northern Ireland would de jure leave the single market, it would still enforce all EU customs rules, while Britain would diverge. This would result in a regulatory "border in
10400-427: The Dáil parliamentary party not to side with the new Democratic Left . Mac Giolla lost his seat in the general election later that year , and no TD has been elected for the party since then. However, at local authority level, the Workers' Party maintained elected representation on Dublin, Cork and Waterford corporations in the aftermath of the split, and Mac Giolla was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1993. Outside of
10560-472: The EU, just as East Germany was permitted to join the EU's predecessor institutions by reuniting with the rest of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall . The majority of Ulster Protestants , almost half the population of Northern Ireland, favour continued union with Great Britain , and have done so historically. Four of the six counties have Irish Catholic majorities, and majorities voting for Irish nationalist parties, and Catholics have become
10720-404: 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
10880-446: The European Union." The SDLP manifesto for the 2017 UK general election called for a referendum on a united Ireland after the UK withdraws from the EU. However the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time, James Brokenshire , said the conditions for a vote are "not remotely satisfied". After the 2017 election, the UK government was reliant on confidence and supply from the Democratic Unionist Party . The deal supported
11040-427: The Irish Derby." Under the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 , Ireland declared that the country may officially be described as the Republic of Ireland and that the President of Ireland had the executive authority of the state in its external relations. This was treated by the British Commonwealth as ending Irish membership. In response, the United Kingdom passed the Ireland Act 1949 . Section 1(2) of this act affirmed
11200-404: The Irish Sea" rather than a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and caused fears from unionist politicians about Brexit causing a weakening of the UK. The new UK prime minister Boris Johnson continued to claim no trade border would take form as late as August 2020, despite having negotiated its creation . Dominic Cummings later claimed that Johnson did not understand
11360-408: The Irish government in the future of Northern Ireland. Article 1 of the Agreement stated that the future constitutional position of Northern Ireland would be a matter for the people of Northern Ireland: (a) affirm that any change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with the consent of a majority of' the people of' Northern Ireland; (b) recognise that the present wish of a majority of
11520-549: 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
11680-725: The Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage. Article 3 In a referendum in June 2016, England and Wales voted to leave the European Union . The majority of those voting in Northern Ireland and in Scotland, however, voted for the UK to remain. Of the parties in the Assembly, only the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),
11840-570: The Northern conflict was typified by the slogan it would adopt: "Peace, Democracy, Class Politics". It aimed to replace sectarian politics with a class struggle which would unite Catholic and Protestant workers. The slogan's echo of Vladimir Lenin 's "Peace, Bread, Land" was indicative of the party's new source of inspiration. Official Sinn Féin also built up fraternal relations with the USSR and with socialist, workers' and communist parties around
12000-629: The Provisionals. In response, they produced pieces which focused on the victims of violence by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland. In early 1992, following a failed attempt to change the organisation's constitution, six of the party's seven TDs, its MEP, numerous councillors and a significant minority of its membership broke off to form Democratic Left , a party which later merged with the Labour Party in 1999. The reasons for
12160-564: 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 ,
12320-552: The Republican Government remained as the legitimate government of the Irish Republic declared in 1919. Adherents to this theory rejected the legitimacy of both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The report of Boundary Commission in 1925 established under the Treaty did not lead to any alteration in the border . Within Northern Ireland, the Nationalist Party was an organisational successor to
12480-626: The United Kingdom unless a majority voted otherwise in a referendum, while under the Ireland Act 1949 the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland was needed for a united Ireland. In 1985, the Anglo-Irish Agreement affirmed, while providing for devolved government in Northern Ireland, and an advisory role for the Republic of Ireland government, that any change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with
12640-467: The United Kingdom. The poll was overwhelmingly boycotted by nationalists, and the turnout was therefore 58.7%. The pro-UK vote did however represent 57.5% of the entire electorate, notwithstanding the boycott. In 1983, the Irish government led by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald established the New Ireland Forum as a consultation on a new Ireland. Though all parties in Ireland were invited,
12800-583: The Workers' Party launched its policy document "Lets Get Real", stating that nuclear power is the only energy option for Ireland which is reliable, affordable and low carbon. The party advocates Ireland building 6 conventional nuclear plants at 2 or 3 sites for an estimated cost of €50 billion. The Workers' Party made its electoral breakthrough in 1981 when Joe Sherlock won a seat in Cork East . It increased this to three seats in 1982 and to four seats in 1987 . The Workers' Party had its best performance at
12960-658: The Workers' Party northern chairman, Seamus Lynch in Belfast, joined Democratic Left. The party held on to its one council seat in the 1993 local elections with Peter Smyth retaining the seat that had been held by Tom French in Loughside, Craigavon . This was lost in 1997 , leaving them without elected representation in Northern Ireland. The party performed poorly in the 2007 Assembly election ; it won no seats, and in its best result in Belfast West , it gained 1.26% of
13120-400: The anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil party came to power in the 1930s, it adopted a new constitution which claimed sovereignty over the entire island. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had a united Ireland as its goal during the conflict with British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries from the 1960s to the 1990s known as The Troubles . The Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, which ended
13280-626: The background of the violent beginning of what would be termed the Troubles ). A growing minority within the rank-and-file wanted to maintain traditional militarist policies aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland . An equally contentious issue involved whether to or not to continue with the policy of abstentionism , that is, the refusal of elected representatives to take their seats in British or Irish legislatures. A majority of
13440-693: 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
13600-511: The breakaway faction. The Belfast Telegraph also reported upon the story in April 2021, and suggested one faction had tried to expel Tynan on the stated basis that he had not paid his membership fee for that year. However, Tynan told the Belfast Telegraph that he believed the actual basis for his expulsion was that a new guard of members who wished to move the party towards more Irish Republican positions, such as being in favour of
13760-495: The class struggle to a mythical national question". The policy document used Marxist terminology: it identified US imperialism as the now-dominant political and economic force in the southern state and attacked the failure of the national bourgeoisie to develop Ireland as a modern economic power. Official Sinn Féin gravitated towards Marxism-Leninism and became fiercely critical of the physical force Irish republicanism still espoused by Provisional Sinn Féin. Its new approach to
13920-411: The conflict, acknowledged the legitimacy of the desire for a united Ireland, while declaring that it could be achieved only with the consent of a majority of the people of both jurisdictions on the island, and providing a mechanism for ascertaining this in certain circumstances. In 2016, Sinn Féin called for a referendum on a united Ireland following Brexit , the decision by the United Kingdom to leave
14080-631: The consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. The Kingdom of Ireland as a whole had become part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union 1800 . From the 1870s, support for some form of an elected parliament in Dublin grew. In 1870, Isaac Butt , who was a Protestant, formed the Home Government Association , which became the Home Rule League . Charles Stewart Parnell , also
14240-763: The continuation of the Parliament of Northern Ireland within a unitary Irish state. In 1946, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the Irish High Commissioner to the United Kingdom , "I said a few words in Parliament the other day about your country because I still hope for a United Ireland. You must get those fellows in the north in, though; you can't do it by force. There is not, and never was, any bitterness in my heart towards your country." He later said, "You know I have had many invitations to visit Ulster but I have refused them all. I don't want to go there at all, I would much rather go to southern Ireland. Maybe I'll buy another horse with an entry in
14400-446: The deal at the time it was signed, while Ian Paisley Jr claimed that Johnson had privately promised to "tear up" the deal after it was agreed. In September, Johnson sought to unilaterally dis-apply parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, despite acknowledging that this broke international law. The bill was rejected by the House of Lords , resulting in several provisions being withdrawn before it passed in December 2020- shortly before
14560-525: The dominant party representing the nationalist community until the early twenty-first century. In 1972, the parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended , and under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 , it was formally abolished. Section 1 of the 1973 Act stated, A border poll was held in Northern Ireland in 1973 . The SDLP and Sinn Féin called for a boycott of the poll. 98.9% of votes cast supported remaining part of
14720-688: The early 1970s and continued to operate in secrecy until the Worker's Party broke apart in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed (1991) and likewise the Workers' Party saw a major split with the formation of the Democratic Left (1992). Remaining undetected was fundamental to the existence of the Cumann, as officially RTÉ reporters were not allowed to have party-political affiliations, in order to appear objective as journalists. The Cumann
14880-718: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
15040-414: 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
15200-515: The entire country. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland James Chichester-Clark rejected the proposal. In August 1971 Lynch proposed that the Government of Northern Ireland (Stormont) be replaced with an administration that would share power with Catholics. The next day the Northern Prime Minister Brian Faulkner rejected Lynch's statement and stated that "no further attempt by us to deal constructively with
15360-494: 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
15520-602: The following address to the King so as to exercise the rights conferred on Northern Ireland under Article 12 of the Treaty: The King received it the following day. These steps cemented Northern Ireland's legal separation from the Irish Free State. In Irish republican legitimist theory, the Treaty was illegitimate and could not be approved. According to this theory, the Second Dáil did not dissolve and members of
15680-585: The headquarters of Sinn Féin for decades before the 1970 split. At its Ardfheis in January 1977, Official Sinn Féin renamed itself Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party . Its first seats in Dáil Éireann were won under this new name. A motion at the 1979 Ardfheis to remove the Sinn Féin prefix from the party name was narrowly defeated. This change would come about three years later. In Northern Ireland , Sinn Féin
15840-515: The island they wanted, therby enabling them to choose which state they paid taxes to or claimed benefits from. The 'Two state' solution advocated for conflict resolution in other jurisdictions therefore applied. Provision within the Agreement allows for a simple majority to vote in favour of Irish Unification, but does nothing to explain how the dissolution of the two state solution, leads to a peaceful and prosperous new country when potentially 13% of
16000-716: 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
16160-410: 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
16320-425: 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 ,
16480-498: The leadership favoured abandoning this policy. A group consisting of Seán Mac Stiofáin , Dáithí Ó Conaill , Seamus Twomey , and others, established themselves as a "Provisional Army Council" in 1969 in anticipation of a contentious 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (delegate conference). At the Ard Fheis, the leadership of Sinn Féin failed to attain the required two-thirds majority to change the party's position on abstentionism. The debate
16640-483: The longest continuous deployment in British military history Operation Banner . The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) had begun a thirty-year campaign against British security forces with the aim of winning a united Ireland. In 1970, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was established to campaign for civil rights and a united Ireland by peaceful, constitutional means. The party rose to be
16800-696: The majority faction followed the leadership in a Marxist direction. It was known as Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) or Official Sinn Féin , to distinguish it from the minority faction of "Sinn Féin (Kevin Street)" or "Provisional Sinn Féin". It changed its name from Sinn Féin to Sinn Féin The Workers' Party in 1977 and then to the Workers' Party in 1982. In that time, Provisional Sinn Féin came to be known simply as Sinn Féin . Both groups were tied to corresponding paramilitary groups, with Official Sinn Féin tied to
16960-432: The majority of public representatives left with De Rossa, many members remained in the Workers' Party. Sean Garland condemned those who broke away as "careerists" and social democrats who had taken flight after the collapse of the Soviet Union and labelled them "liquidators". Marian Donnelly replaced De Rossa as president from 1992 to 1994. Tom French became president in 1994, and served for four years until Sean Garland
17120-582: 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
17280-804: 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
17440-469: 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
17600-566: The north erupted into outright violence in the late 1960s. In 1968 the Irish Taoiseach, Jack Lynch , raised the issue of partition in London: "It has been the aim of my government and its predecessors to promote the reunification of Ireland by fostering a spirit of brotherhood among all sections of the Irish people. The clashes in the streets of Derry are an expression of the evils which partition has brought in its train." He later stated to
17760-588: 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
17920-488: The only ones to attend were Fine Gael , Fianna Fáil , the Labour Party and the SDLP . Its report considered three options: a unitary state, i.e., a united Ireland; a federal/confederal state; and joint sovereignty. These options were rejected by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . In 1985, the governments of Ireland and of the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement ; the British government accepted an advisory role for
18080-435: The organisation, rather than a simple rejection of leftism. The pre-split leadership, they stated, had attempted to replace the programme of Wolfe Tone and James Connolly with "the foreign socialism of Marx and Mao". If this had gone unchecked, their argument went, the "traditional" IRA would have been replaced by the “so-called National Liberation Movement, including Communist Party members. In 1977, Official Sinn Féin ratified
18240-503: 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
18400-467: The parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry" and Southern Ireland "so much of Ireland as is not comprised within the said parliamentary counties and boroughs". Section 3 of this Act provided that the parliaments may be united by identical acts of parliament: Sinn Féin did not recognise this act, treating elections to the respective parliaments as a single election to the Second Dáil . While
18560-445: The party has existed as a microparty . A 2021 split in the party left the party's status disputed. In 1971, it registered to contest Dáil and local elections in the Republic of Ireland under the name Sinn Féin . From the early to mid-1970s, it was known as Official Sinn Féin or Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) to distinguish it from the rival offshoot Provisional Sinn Féin, or Sinn Féin (Kevin Street) . Gardiner Place had symbolic power as
18720-499: The party's annual Ardfheis the party voted to expel their only elected representative Ted Tynan. This is disputed by the party themselves. In response, a faction of the party called an emergency general meeting in which they backed a vote of no confidence in party president Michael Donnelly and voted Tynan as his successor. Micheal McCorry, who had been General Secretary, became president of the Donnelly faction, with Tynan president of
18880-509: The party's new name: Sinn Féin The Workers' Party without dissension. According to Richard Sinnott, this "symbolism" was completed in April 1982 when the party became simply the Workers' Party. Although the Official IRA became drawn into the spiralling violence of the early period of conflict in Northern Ireland , it almost immediately reduced its military campaign against the United Kingdom 's armed presence in Northern Ireland, declaring
19040-405: The party. In the 2011 general election the Workers' Party ran six candidates, without success. In the 2016 general election , the party ran five candidates, again without success. At the 2019 Irish local elections , the party dropped to one remaining councillor, with Éilís Ryan losing her seat on Dublin City Council. The party gained ten seats at the 1973 Northern Ireland local elections . At
19200-559: The people of Northern Ireland is for no change in the status of Northern Ireland; In the Downing Street Declaration , Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Prime Minister John Major issued a joint statement, in which Major, "reiterated on behalf of the British Government, that they have no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland". The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was a culmination of
19360-431: The plurality in Northern Ireland as of 2021. The religious denominations of the citizens of Northern Ireland are only a guide to likely political preferences, as there are both Protestants who favour a united Ireland, and Catholics who support the union. Two surveys in 2011 identified a significant number of Catholics who favoured the continuation of the union without identifying themselves as unionists or British. In 2024,
19520-485: 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
19680-516: The polls in 1989 when it won seven seats in the general election and party president Proinsias De Rossa won a seat in Dublin in the European election held on the same day, sitting with the communist Left Unity group. Following the split of 1992 , Tomás Mac Giolla , a TD in the Dublin West constituency and president of the party for most of the previous 30 years, was the only member of
19840-421: The present Dublin government is possible." Later in 1971 British Labour Party leader (and future Prime Minister) Harold Wilson proposed a plan that would lead to a united Ireland after a 15-year transitional period. He called for the establishment of a commission that would examine the possibility of creating a united Ireland which would be agreed upon by all three parliaments. The northern Prime Minister rejected
20000-474: The press that the ending of partition would be "a just and inevitable solution to the problems of Northern Ireland." Lynch renewed his call to end partition in August 1969 when he proposed negotiations with Britain with the hope of merging the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland into a federal type state. Lynch proposed that the two parliaments continue to function with a Council of Ireland having authority over
20160-536: The proceedings. By the end of the First World War, a number of moderate unionists came to support Home Rule, believing that it was the only way to keep a united Ireland in the United Kingdom. The Irish Dominion League opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions, while arguing that the whole of Ireland should be granted dominion status with the British Empire. At
20320-461: The programme without having to acknowledge their membership. The Cumann was also able to influence one of RTÉ's flagship shows The Late Late Show , and placed SFWP activists into the show's studio audience, a studio audience who often took part in discussions on the show. During 1981 Irish hunger strike , the Cumann was deeply annoyed by the positive coverage that the hunger strikers (such as Bobby Sands ) began to receive, as they were aligned with
20480-466: The proposal and reiterated the desire that Northern Ireland remain an integral part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Taoiseach indicated the possibility of amending the Irish constitution to accommodate the Protestants of Northern Ireland and urged the British government to "declare its interest in encouraging the unity of Ireland". In 1969 the British government deployed troops in what would become
20640-467: The proposal was rejected, and the October 2009 referendum , in which the proposal was approved. It was the only left-wing party to campaign for a No vote in the 2013 Seanad abolition referendum . It called for a Yes vote in the marriage equality referendum in 2015. The party supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum . The party has been involved in campaigning for public housing and renters' rights as
20800-470: The provision in the Treaty that the position of Ireland remained a matter for the Parliament of Northern Ireland: Between 1956 and 1962, the IRA engaged in a border campaign against British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary outposts with the aim of ending British rule in Northern Ireland. This coincided with brief electoral success of Sinn Féin, which won four seats at the 1957 Irish general election . This
20960-492: 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 )
21120-432: 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
21280-647: 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
21440-573: The south-east, the Workers' Party retains active branches in various areas of the Republic, including Dublin , Cork and County Meath. In the 1999 local elections , it lost all of its seats in Dublin and Cork and only managed to retain three seats in Waterford City. Further electoral setbacks and a minor split left the party after the 2004 local elections , with only two councillors, both in Waterford . The party fielded twelve candidates in
21600-418: The split were twofold. Firstly, a faction led by Proinsias De Rossa wanted to move the party towards an acceptance of free-market economics. Following the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, they felt that the Workers' Party's Marxist stance was now an obstacle to winning support at the polls. Secondly, media accusations had once again surfaced regarding the continued existence of the Official IRA which, it
21760-473: The status quo on both sides of the border. [...] Schedule 1 On the establishment of the institutions in 1999, Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland were amended to read: It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore,
21920-620: 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
22080-549: The vote. The party did not field any candidates at the 2010 Westminster general election . In the 2011 Assembly election the Workers' Party ran in four constituencies, securing 586 first-preference votes (1.7%) in Belfast West and 332 (1%) in Belfast North . Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
22240-434: The whole island of Ireland as the national territory, while claiming legal jurisdiction only over the previous territory of the Irish Free State. The national territory consists of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas. Article 3 Article 15.2 allowed for the "creation or recognition of subordinate legislatures and for the powers and functions of these legislatures", which would have allowed for
22400-594: 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
22560-406: The working classes could be united in class struggle to overthrow their common rulers, with a 32-county socialist republic being the inevitable outcome. However, this Marxist outlook became unpopular with many of the more traditionalist republicans, and the party/army leadership was criticised for failing to defend northern Catholic enclaves from loyalist attacks (these debates took place against
22720-645: The world. Throughout the 1980s, the party came to staunchly oppose republican political violence , controversially to the point of recommending cooperating with British security forces. They were one of the few organisations on the left of Irish politics to oppose the INLA/Provisional IRA 1981 Irish hunger strike . The Workers' Party (especially the faction around Harris) strongly criticised traditional Irish republicanism , causing some of its critics such as Vincent Browne and Paddy Prendeville to accuse it of having an attitude to Northern Ireland that
22880-504: Was alleged, remained armed and involved in fund-raising robberies, money laundering and other forms of criminality. De Rossa and his supporters sought to distance themselves from alleged paramilitary activity at a special Árd Fheis held at Dún Laoghaire on 15 February 1992. A motion proposed by De Rossa and General Secretary Des Geraghty sought to stand down the existing membership, elect an 11-member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures
23040-531: 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
23200-499: Was charged with allegations of vote-rigging and expulsions. When the Ard Fheis went on to pass a vote of confidence in the official Army Council (which had already approved an end to the abstentionist policy), Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led the minority in a walk-out, and went to a prearranged meeting in Parnell Square where they announced the establishment of a "caretaker" executive of Sinn Féin. The dissident council became known as
23360-526: Was close to Ulster unionism . Part of the party's plan to gain influence in the Republic of Ireland was the formation and maintenance of a secret branch ( cumann ), the Ned Stapleton Cumann , inside Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ . Centred around the leadership of Eoghan Harris, the members were all employees of RTÉ and many of them were journalists. Members included Charlie Bird , John Caden and Marian Finucane . The branch started in
23520-431: Was defeated. The motion to "reconstitute" the party achieved the support of 61% of delegates. However, this was short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the Workers' Party constitution. The Workers' Party later claimed that there was vote rigging by the supporters of the De Rossa motion. As a result of the conference's failure to adopt the motion, De Rossa and his supporters split from the organisation and established
23680-468: Was elected president in 1998. Garland retired as president in May 2008, and was replaced by Mick Finnegan who served until September 2014, being replaced by Michael Donnelly A further minor split occurred when a number of members left and established a group called Republican Left; many of these went on to join the Irish Socialist Network. Another split occurred in 1998, after a number of former OIRA members in Newry and Belfast, who had been expelled, formed
23840-425: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
24000-524: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Irish unity United Ireland ( Irish : Éire Aontaithe ), also referred to as Irish reunification or
24160-465: Was influential within RTÉ, and used its position to shape the output of RTÉ programming; they pushed for narratives which reflected the official Sinn Féin/Workers' Party outlook, particularly in relation to the Provisional IRA . One programme impacted by the Cumann, Today Tonight , aired 4 nights a week and focused on investigative journalism. Although not directly involved with the show, the Cumann members ensured that SFWP members regularly appeared on
24320-435: Was introduced in 1912, and in September 1912, just under half a million men and women signed the Ulster Covenant to swear they would resist its application in Ulster. The Ulster Volunteer Force were formed in 1913 as a militia to resist Home Rule. The Government of Ireland Act 1914 (previously known as the Third Home Rule Bill) provided for a unitary devolved Irish Parliament, a culmination of several decades of work from
24480-432: Was introduced in 1999 after implementation of the Good Friday Agreement , as part of replacing the old Articles 2 and 3 , which had laid a direct claim to the whole island as the national territory. The Northern Ireland Act 1998 , a statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , provides that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland vote to form part of
24640-550: Was its first electoral success since 1927, and it did not win seats in the Republic of Ireland again until 1997. The border campaign was entirely unsuccessful in its aims. In 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote that "I do not think that a United Ireland - with de Valera as a kind of Irish Nehru would do us much good. Let us stand by our friends." The Northern Ireland civil rights movement emerged in 1967 to campaign for civil rights for Catholics in Northern Ireland. Tensions between republican and loyalist groups in
24800-404: Was not successful and sixteen of the leaders were executed. The small separatist party Sinn Féin became associated with the Rising in its aftermath as several of those involved in it were party members. The Irish Convention held between 1917 and 1918 sought to reach agreement on manner in which Home Rule would be implemented after the war. All Irish parties were invited, but Sinn Féin boycotted
24960-406: Was organised under the name Republican Clubs to avoid a ban on Sinn Féin candidates (introduced in 1964 under Northern Ireland's Emergency Powers Act ). The Officials continued to use this name after 1970, and later used the name Workers' Party Republican Clubs . In 1982, both the northern and southern sections of the party became The Workers' Party. The Workers' Party is sometimes referred to as
25120-403: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
25280-527: 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
25440-463: Was the Connolly Association . This group's analysis saw the primary obstacle to Irish unity as the continuing division between the Protestant and Catholic working classes. This it attributed to the " divide and rule " policies of capitalism , whose interests were served by the working classes remaining divided. Military activity was seen as counterproductive, because its effect was to further entrench sectarian divisions. The left-wing faction believed
25600-442: 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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