In an ominous preview of what the next seven years of Park-watching are going to be like for well-meaning non-Honours Irish students, Connolly<\/a> prompted some confusion when she uttered in her Dublin Castle speech her rousing \u201cLigimis don Ghaeilge bl\u00e1th\u00fa\u201d, or \u201clet us allow Irish to bloom\u201d.<\/p>\n Because when the \u00c1ras issued the official transcript, an F had wormed its way into one of the words, rendering it \u201cLigfimis don Ghaeilge bl\u00e1th\u00fa\u201d. This F, inaudible though it was, made the word possibly future tense, or conditional, but certainly grammatically unusual.<\/p>\n Despite appearing in the official text of the speech, the more Gaelic end of the media, including Tuairisc<\/a> and the Conradh na Gaeilge X account<\/a>, left the F out of their reports. Overheard would have a tendency to be sticking to the simpler tenses in most languages, but our curiosity was piqued as to what the correct answer was.<\/p>\n So we asked Dr Aidan Doyle of Roinn na Nua-Ghaeilge at University College Cork, a linguist, translation expert and author of texts including \u201cCovert and Overt Pronominals in Irish\u201d and \u201cSplit intransitivity in Irish and the syntax-semantics interface\u201d. It seemed like he might know.<\/p>\n Without the F, said Dr Doyle, we have \u201cthe 1st person plural of the imperative\u201d, which is used \u201cvery rarely\u201d. With the F, it would be the modh coinn\u00edolach, or conditional tense \u2013 \u201cbut this would be dependent on a preceding main clause \u2013 for example, Ba cheart go ligfimis don Ghaeilge bl\u00e1th\u00fa\u201d, in which case the sentence would mean \u201cIt would be right that we should allow Irish to bloom\u201d. <\/p>\n The imperative \u2013 \u201clet us allow\u201d \u2013 would seem, in Dr Doyle\u2019s view, to be correct, meaning red pen for the \u00c1ras\u2019s homework on the very first day of the new regime.<\/p>\n \u201cI would classify the official error as a very minor one, given that the two forms are very close in native speech and completely identical in the speech of even advanced learners like the President,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cIf I got something from a student and they were even trying to use the imperative, I\u2019d be so astounded that I wouldn\u2019t notice a spelling error, [and would] probably give them first class honours.\u201d<\/p>\n This is a good start, on balance. <\/p>\n Calendar issues Emma Little-Pengelly<\/a>, the DUP<\/a> Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, was not there to witness this grammatical rarity first hand, opting instead for Remembrance-related activities in Belfast and Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n She also missed Connolly\u2019s invocation of Article 3 of the Constitution, which is to say, given all caveats about identities, traditions and consent, we want a united Ireland, thank you very much.<\/p>\n It never had a great chance of working out for Little-Pengelly. Ireland finds itself in a situation where the presidential inauguration could well clash with Remembrance Day, when Britain remembers its war dead, forever.<\/p>\n The Constitution mandates that the president \u201cshall hold office for seven years from the date upon which he enters upon his office\u201d (the gendered language is De Valera\u2019s fault, not Overheard\u2019s). Not \u201cup to seven years\u201d or \u201caround seven years\u201d but for seven years, barring death, removal or resignation. <\/p>\n The inauguration didn\u2019t fall on November 11th in the past, but between the jigs and the reels (the timing of Mary Robinson\u2019s resignation, primarily), it landed on November 11th for Mary McAleese in 1997. And then stayed there in 2004, 2011, 2018 and 2025. <\/p>\n If Catherine Connolly serves a full term, the next inauguration will be on November 11th in 2032. And so on in seven-year increments until the end of time, until scandal or plague should strike. This does make scheduling difficult for devolved deputy FMs, should the office persist.<\/p>\n The worst job in Ireland Do not say you weren\u2019t warned if you apply for what Ryanair describes as \u201cthe worst job in Ireland\u201d. The company, fresh off the news that they will bin paper boarding passes to reduce the number of frills to a record-low level, advertised such a position on LinkedIn<\/a> with an ominous set of warnings.<\/p>\n \u201cReporting directly to … you guessed it … Michael O\u2019Leary,\u201d according to the post, the job is that of financial assistant to the opinionated marketeer. Are you \u201cthick-skinned\u201d? \u201cBrave\u201d? \u201cCaffeinated\u201d? \u201cSlightly mad\u201d? Can you take the plain speaking that O\u2019Leary likes to dole out on talk radio appearances and presumably in the office? It might be the gig for you. <\/p>\n The post by the airline\u2019s HR head Mark Duffy suggests that Dublin, Leinster or Manchester United supporters need not apply, so Overheard is ruled out on three grounds, but you may not be. In spite of the hard talk, Ryanair is bound by the same employment legislation as all other Irish businesses, so it can\u2019t be that bad.<\/p>\n The salary is given only as \u201ccompetitive\u201d, but you can get the bike to work scheme \u2013 and several top Ryanair executives have made their leaps to corporate high office after holding the position in the past.<\/p>\n Christmas resurrectedDUP deputy leader Michelle Mcllveen, DUP leader Gavin Robinson and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Emma Little-Pengelly during a ceremony to mark Armistice Day at Parliament Buildings in Stormont. Photograph: Liam McBurney\/PA Wire <\/p>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763281268_64_K7PYMFZD4F37S2HG6JPWONGO7Q.jpg\")
Michael O’Leary, your potential new future boss. Photograph: Jason Alden\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/S5J7ZALE2RHRBHDQO4FDH5E74E.jpg\")
Members of the public enjoy Christmas at the Milk Market in Limerick. Photograph: Alan Place <\/p>\n