{"id":168838,"date":"2025-12-01T07:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/168838\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T07:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:36:07","slug":"huge-demand-for-irish-language-classes-as-adult-learners-return-to-school-decades-on-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/168838\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Huge demand\u2019 for Irish language classes as adult learners return to school decades on \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCan I say: I drink gin and tonics and eat chocolates?\u201d says retiree Pauline McHale when her class is asked to explain, as Gaeilge<\/a>, what a typical work day entails.<\/p>\n

She was one of seven adults ranging in age from their early 30s to their 60s sitting in a classroom above a bustling Camden Street, Dublin, on a recent Monday night.<\/p>\n

While couples and friends entered bars and restaurants down below, these individuals were learning the Aimsir L\u00e1ithreach (the present tense) at one point.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we go,\u201d says one student, as a quiz is projected on to the whiteboard before class finishes, in which they are tasked with selecting the correct conjugations of certain verbs.<\/p>\n

They laugh and cheer together as they answer, sometimes incorrectly, but more often correctly, as they near the end of their 10-week beginner-level course in Irish.<\/p>\n

After class finishes at 9pm, Ms McHale says she has \u201calways wanted to learn Irish\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t learn it in school, it was battered into you,\u201d the 66-year-old says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s sinful that we don\u2019t speak our own language, we don\u2019t get on the bus and say \u2018dia duit\u2019, and we don\u2019t get off and say \u2018sl\u00e1n\u2019. Why aren\u2019t we using our own language?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AoifeAoife Kiely and Pauline McHale (right) in class at Conradh na Gaeilge on Camden Street in Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

Rushing to make her bus home to Rathgar on time, she says her class has \u201ca lot of fun\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it, and the crowd and teachers are lovely. I\u2019m probably the thickest in the class,\u201d she says, laughing.<\/p>\n

Like Ms McHale, her classmate Anita Byrne, a 51-year-old from Donaghmede in north Dublin, recalls how Irish was \u201cdrilled into you\u201d when she was in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I knew was the accident \u2013 the timpiste,\u201d she says, which was \u201clearned off by heart\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nearing the end of her first set of Irish classes since she left secondary school, she now plans to travel to Gaoth Dobhair in the Donegal Gaeltacht next year to put them into practice, saying they put a far greater emphasis on Irish as a \u201cspoken language\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so thrilled, I\u2019m raging I didn\u2019t do it years ago. I just love it. We have a language, why don\u2019t we speak it?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"HeidiHeidi Kavanagh (left) and Anita Byrne are among a group of adult students learning Irish at Conradh na Gaeilge. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

She believes a resurgence of interest in Irish is driven largely by its use in popular culture, particularly by Belfast rap trio Kneecap<\/a>, which is \u201creinvigorating something in people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a 22-year-old son who I would have had to drill to do his Irish homework, and now he wants to learn it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

There has been a \u201chuge demand\u201d in recent months for classes at Conradh na Gaeilge<\/a>, according to Eimear Nic Mhuiris, who co-ordinates and organises the adult evening classes. Some 247 adults, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s, registered for its 10-week autumn term.<\/p>\n

The expression of interest list for the last summer term had garnered 104 people. However, this has since grown \u201cexponentially\u201d to 588 people for upcoming classes beginning in January.<\/p>\n

To cope with increased demand, Conradh na Gaeilge is working to schedule extra classes across various levels from beginner to advanced to accommodate as many learners as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of them are coming back to learn Irish. They all did it in school, and a lot of them didn\u2019t have the most positive relationship with it,\u201d Ms Nic Mhuiris says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a lot of people learning Irish for the first time, people who have just come to Ireland and are intrigued by the language and want to learn it as well, so there\u2019s a good mix of people.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Writer Eithne Shortall: \u2018We put Irish at the heart of family life, one bedtime story at a time\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

As to the potential reasons for the demand, she says there have been \u201ca lot of positive influences\u201d recently through media, music, and activists, giving rise to \u201cpride\u201d in the language.<\/p>\n

The most recent motivator, however, is President Catherine Connolly<\/a>, she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had people contact us after her inauguration, they\u2019re so motivated to get back into Irish because of that,\u201d she says, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s lovely to see it grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way Irish was taught in school was mentioned by all who spoke to The Irish Times, with Mary Kennedy, a 60-year-old from The Ward in north Dublin, describing it as \u201crigid\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on your school or teacher, it wasn\u2019t as comfortable to make mistakes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ms Kennedy, who started Irish classes three years ago after moving back to Ireland from London, where she lived and worked for more than three decades, is now enrolled in more advanced classes.<\/p>\n

She felt it was important to learn Irish \u201cin terms of looking to the future and saving it\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Catherine Connolly wants to make Irish working language of \u00c1ras when she takes officeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers of Irish speakers are so depleted, so, for me, it\u2019s about not letting it die. It\u2019s something of ours that speaks to what we are as Irish people, what we\u2019re becoming, what we were, and what we will be,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Also looking to the future is Wesley Mulcahy, a 41-year-old originally from Cobh, Co Cork, whose son recently started junior infants at a Gaelscoil.<\/p>\n

His decision to enrol his son in a Gaelscoil could translate to further opportunities in the future, he says. \u201cI just thought it was in all our interests that I had a good attitude towards Irish. I didn\u2019t want him to absorb any negative attitude towards it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"WesleyWesley Mulcahy and Ysabelle Branagan at Conradh na Gaeilge on Camden Street in Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

Although \u201creasonably academic\u201d when he was at school, he recalls finding Irish \u201cvery difficult\u201d, saying he felt more comfortable \u201ctalking in French\u201d.<\/p>\n

He describes previously being \u201cnervous\u201d and \u201creluctant\u201d to use the language due to a lack of confidence, which he believes is felt by many, and while learning Irish has been a challenge, it has been a \u201cwonderful one\u201d.<\/p>\n

Heidi Kavanagh, meanwhile, a 30-year-old speech and language therapist from Rathfarnham, cites the Palestinian people as a motivating factor in her decision to learn the language. \u201cI found them really inspiring, in terms of them keeping up their culture, despite everything. If they can do that, then I can go to class once a week,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She adds that she was \u201calways complaining about how bad Irish was in school\u201d, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s no use in complaining about it when you can just do it as an adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just good craic. There\u2019s less pressure, and we\u2019re all there because we want to be there, not because we\u2019re worried about the Leaving Cert.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cCan I say: I drink gin and tonics and eat chocolates?\u201d says retiree Pauline McHale when her class…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3656,15338,61,60,10366,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-168838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-catherine-connolly","9":"tag-gaeilge","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-kneecap","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}