Passionate for 'An Teanga Beo'
THE Mayo Gaeltacht has suffered a sharp decline (25 per cent) in its population of daily Irish speakers since 2011, writes Jemima Burke.
This is one of the worst statistics for a Gaeltacht area in the official Census 2016 report.
However, despite the overall decline in Gaeltacht regions, many families and groups across Mayo continue to keep the language alive. This is something they do on an everyday basis: chatting in Irish over a cupán tae, playing with their children as Gaeilge, or switching to Raidió na Gaeltachta while driving home from work.
One of these locals is Seán Ó Cionfhaola, a retired national school teacher, who lives in Cloonshinnagh, outside Castlebar.
Seán has been hosting a ‘ciorcal cainte’ – a weekly spoken Irish session – for almost 40 years in the town. Students are led on a path towards confidence and fluency in Irish, a language which he calls ‘part of our national characteristic’, in an open and friendly environment.
Seán’s passion for ‘an teanga bheo’ comes through in conversation: “It’s our language. Everything – our names, literature, songs, place-names – everything is associated with it.
“Irish is something special. It is one of the oldest languages in Europe.”
He encourages students in the ciorcal cainte to ‘make an effort’ to get beyond their initial shyness: “It can be difficult for students to suddenly start speaking Irish when they are comfortable in English. But it’s amazing how they gradually build confidence through questions and discussion. They settle in.”
While Seán’s parents encouraged their son to practice Irish they did not speak it at home: “My father came from Kerry and my mother was from Cloonshinnagh (Parke), a teacher; he was a guard. I remember she would read parts of Pádraig Mháire Bháin to us when we were young – a classic by Seán Ó Ruadháin from Erris.”
The formative influence of teachers cannot be overestimated and Seán credits his early interest in the Irish language to a teacher in St. Gerald’s College who, he says, ‘had a great influence on me’.
He added: “The teacher would give me extra Irish books to read and study. I had a propensity for Irish and these things grow over time.”
Now Seán is passing on his grá for Gaeilge to his grand-niece Aoibhinn Ní Chionfhaola (14) who is sitting her Junior Cert exams this year. They talk all the time through Irish and have done so since Aoibhinn was a Junior Infant in Scoil Rafteirí.
“I love the Irish language and I wish more people my age loved it as much!” said Aoibhinn, who came back from a summer course in the Gaeltacht bursting with enthusiasm. “It can be seen as uncool to talk in Irish, which is very disappointing. When you go to other countries and see their cultures and then come home to Ireland – it really is lovely to have a language of our own.”
“Language is something that you have to believe in,” Seán maintains. “You have to make an effort to use it. Unless Irish is a means of communication outside of the half hour class there’s no hope. Teanga cumarsáide í an Ghaeilge.”
This is a point reiterated by Aoibhinn: “In school, I think people my age tend to see it as a subject instead of a language. Like, ‘Oh, I need to write a paragraph in Irish about this book for the Junior Cert.’ Once you’ve ‘done’ it that’s it.”
On the issue of whether Irish should be compulsory Seán holds that ‘Irish citizens should have a certain knowledge of Irish’ (as they would have of history or mathematics). He remarks that when ‘things that are difficult are made voluntary a lot of youngsters won’t bother’.
The two will often read and discuss the short stories and plays on Aoibhinn’s Junior Cert Irish course.
And they have a family tradition of going for a weekend trip to a different Gaeltacht each year. They have been to the Blasket Islands, Cape Clear (an island south-west of Cork) and this year they will head to the Aran Islands.
Coming back to Castlebar, Seán Ó Cionfhaola is positive when it comes to the local community: “There are great helps available here for people who want to become more fluent in the language.
“We have ‘Is Leor Beirt’ once a week in the Linenhall Café on Wednesdays at 11. Anyone can call in for a chat. There is always a welcome for learners. Once a month we have ‘lón trí Ghaeilge’ and there is a fortnightly ‘siúlóid trí Ghaeilge’ around Lough Lannagh.”
Up to 15 people, all at different levels of fluency, meet on a regular basis for caint as Gaeilge in the Linenhall Café on Wednesday mornings. Three familiar faces often to be seen are Bridín Ní Cheallaigh, Úna Ní Ghabhláin and Frances O’Dowd.
The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming. Úna stresses that Irish is not a topic of discussion on these coffee mornings. Rather, it is a medium of communication: “We talk about what’s going on, different topical issues. We don’t be talking about Irish! I’m confident about the language. ”
Úna praised the work of Seán Ó Cionfhaola in promoting Irish: “He has done wonders.”
She also pointed out that speaking Irish at home is ‘critical’ to improving one’s grasp of it.
Is leor beirt. It only takes two. Aoibhinn and Seán take every opportunity to speak Irish together – at home, in the car, on holidays. Rather than see it as something dull and difficult, Aoibhinn views Irish as a living language and a vital part of her everyday life.
The Cionfhaola family are just one of many across Mayo, passing down an appreciation and love for the Irish language from generation to generation.
Beatha teanga í a labhairt. The life of a language is in the speaking of it. As Séan says: “Why keep it to yourself?”