A Trip To The Gaeltacht by Tom Ryan

A trip to the Spiddal Co. Galway Gaeltacht.

Land of stones and sea and sky,

Where winds of freedom never die,

And voices rise from field and shore,

To speak the tongue of long before

Anon.

The above lines perfectly reflect the atmosphere in the Spiddal Gaeltacht where the Irish language still doggedly hangs on.

On 18th June in what is fast becoming an annual event, a group of nine members of The

Irish Centre and Conradh na Gaeilge had a most enjoyable trip to the Spiddal Gaeltacht. We

were blessed with excellent weather and as well as exploring Spiddal, the group spread their wings visiting Coral Beach in Carraroe, the islands of Inis Oirr and Inis Mór and Galway City among other places.

The breakfast table in the mornings was a mini hedge school. Everything on the table was

referred to only by its Irish name and the conversation was flavoured with as many Irish

words as was possible. Our 'bean an tí' (landlady) was a fluent Irish speaker and

encouraged us to use our Irish which was an added benefit.

On Sunday morning, we all attended Mass in the Spiddal Parish Church. The Mass and the

sermon were conducted entirely in Irish and the large church congregation gave all the

responses in Irish and sang the hymns in Irish.

One could not help reflecting on earlier

centuries when, during the penal laws, the Irish language and the practice of the Catholic

faith were proscribed. Mass was said on Mass Stones at out of the way places with lookouts

posted to warn of the approach of soldiers and priests were hunted as outlaws and faced

potential execution if apprehended. - A moving experience.

On Saturday, the group split up, some going to the largest Aran Island, Inis Mór and others

going to the smallest island, Inis Oirr, for a day trip. Some of the Inis Mór group enjoyed a

bus tour around the island, marvelling at the breathtakingly sheer cliffs at Dún Aengus, a

pre-historic fort believed to have been built circa 1100 BC, and at the bravery (or was it

foolhardiness?) of some visitors dangling their legs over the sheer drop into the Atlantic

ocean hundreds of feet below. Kilronan is the bustling main town on the island and has a

wide choice of pubs, cafes and shops selling Aran goods.

Inis Oirr is a small and charming island and, as with all the Aran Islands, is covered by

numerous stone walls bounding small fields reminding us of the hardships endured by the

people who lived there in previous generations. The abandoned churches perched atop hills,

a silent testament to the people who heard mass there in bygone times when the population

was larger.

The highlight of the sights on the island is probably the shipwreck of the MV

Plassey. She lies stranded on a stony ridge about 5 metres above sea level at the south end

of the island, having been driven aground there during a violent Atlantic storm in 1960.

The picturesque little village huddled by the Inis Oirr Pier has a good selection of pubs, cafes

and shops selling reasonably priced Aran products. We had an excellent lunch in Tigh Ruairí and were treated to a lovely impromptu session of Irish folk music outside, rendered by a

local musician, while waiting to catch our ferry back to Rossaveel.

Spiddal is a lively village where the Irish language is frequently to be heard. One night, on a visit to the bar to order drinks, by chance, I found myself standing beside two men speaking

in Irish over their pint. I was cheeky and found an excuse to ease myself into their conversation and spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes talking to them in Irish. While most people there are bilingual, encouragingly, Irish is still the first language of many of them. The

craft village on Sunday morning had excellent displays of local crafts and craftsmen

displaying their skills. A demonstration of basket weaving echoed back to earlier generations where wicker baskets were central to many occupations like fishing and farming in the area.

.

Galway City had a vibrant atmosphere and had a distinct Mediterranean feel to it. In the

Latin Quarter, the streets were covered with tables and crowds of people were sitting

outdoors enjoying a drink and food in the beautiful evening sunshine. Many of our members enjoyed an afternoon trad. music session in the Crane Bar located in the Claddagh area of the city. In bygone times the Claddagh contained a tightly knit Irish speaking fishing community who apparently did not welcome outsiders. Today, alas, all the fishermen’s cottages and the community have disappeared and been replaced with modern housing. –

The march of progress!

Overall, we achieved our pre-trip objectives:

An enjoyable holiday in a beautiful part of the world, an opportunity to enjoy total immersion

in the Irish language, and importantly, we feel we did our bit to provide a boost to the

economy of the Spiddal Gaeltacht in an effort to arrest the worrying haemorrhage of Gaelic

speakers from the area due to economic factors. Some of our members were discussing

next year's holiday in a Gaeltacht area while we were still there, such was the enjoyment