Decline in the Irish Language

For the basic insight into Irish heritage and culture if you didn’t know already, we were oppressed for century’s by the British Empire and struggled endlessly for our independence as a nation, for our right to continue in our cultures and pastimes and be recognised as a Republic rather than a simple colony in the British Empire. This was felt throughout most parts of the country and a continuous struggle and general resistance to be governed by anyone but ourselves achieved it’s goal eventually. So isn’t it a shame that nowadays the new youth disregard this struggle and see the learning of Irish as a chore rather than a blessing?

Since the colonisation of the British in the 16th centaury and the general impression of their customs and language, we can see a large dent in the number of natives speaking the Gaelic language especially in the Northern counties and Pale region. This decline in Irish language lead to the general disappointment of the native population as they had British language and customs as well as political systems imposed upon them. Upon gaining it’s independence in 1921, one would think that these Gaelic customs would have  dramatically increased, and that the Irish language would once again be the most commonly spoken language in the country. However this is certainly not the case as according to the Census of 2002, 1.57 million people in the Republic of Ireland can speak Irish and 10.4% of the people in Northern Ireland claim to have some knowledge of Irish. How can this be, isn’t this a insult to those who fought for years against oppression and the right to freedom?

Nowadays it is evident that in many schools that aren’t taught through Irish, many students couldn’t be bothered learning the “dead language”, I certainly knew that was how I felt at the time. Perhaps it is the way Irish is taught on the curriculum that has brought about this general disregard for the language. With colleges such as Trinity (the highest honoured college in the country) not even needing pupils to have a pass in Irish, this has defiantly had an impact on how secondary students viewing their Irish as unnecessary, leading to serious concern amongst Gaelic promoters, and is certainly a cause for debate. Its seems the youth of this year have a different view on the independent features that indicate them as Irish. This could be a result of the new found wealth of the country (Celtic tiger). Perhaps a crash course in Irish history will get these new “ Wippersnappers” thinking twice!

Nevertheless, the inclusion of newer colleges such as UCD, UCG and UCB requiring applicants to have a pass in Irish, this has lead to and increase in interest for the language. Perhaps there is hope for the future in regards to the survival of the Gaelic language, only time will tell. One thing is for sure, my grandfather is not to happy with the mention of the newer generations “hatred for the language”, he (and a newly convinced me), agree that parents should throw there children into Irish spoken schools or at least Irish colleges for the summer, and allow them to learn the language in a creative, fun and enthusiastic way, rather than sleeping at the back of pass Irish! Maybe this approach will show positive results for the future, after all it would be a pity and down right shame to loose the language after we fought so hard to protect it.