{"id":523014,"date":"2026-06-28T18:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T18:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523014\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T18:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T18:39:11","slug":"cork-poet-who-taught-kneecap-star-lands-documentary-on-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523014\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork poet who taught Kneecap star lands documentary on BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The process of creating a poem by a Cork-based poet is the subject of a documentary to be broadcast on BBC World Service and as a podcast on BBC Sounds.<\/p>\n

Ailbhe N\u00ed Ghearbhuigh, who writes poetry in Irish, having been reared in an all-Irish household in Tralee by parents from the west of Ireland, was up every morning at 6am for the making of the documentary.<\/p>\n

Ailbhe\u2019s poetry, deeply rooted in the literary tradition of the Irish language but contemporary in its outlook, has been translated widely so that it reaches readers in English, French, Spanish, German, Greek, Macedonian, Czech and Gallician.<\/p>\n

The English translations are often done by Ailbhe\u2019s husband, English language poet Billy Ramsell, who attended the North Monastery Secondary School and has excellent Irish.<\/p>\n

For the documentary, Ailbhe recorded short audio diaries using a dictaphone. She would work out a line or a verse, playing with words and listening back. When she got stuck, she would walk around The Lough to figure out what she was trying to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process is interesting,\u201d says Ailbhe. \u201cI hadn\u2019t really considered it before but the practice of writing is so crucial in that you don\u2019t just sit around waiting for inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy deadline for the documentary was the Franco Irish Literary Festival in Dublin, which was in April.\u201d<\/p>\n

The producer of the documentary, Dualtagh Herr, came over to Ailbhe and Billy\u2019s home near The Lough and recorded Ailbhe talking about childhood imagination, motherhood, and the creative process. He also spoke to Billy about how he approaches translation. The couple have two daughters; L\u00e9an (9) and \u00c9abha (6).<\/p>\n

The poem that Ailbhe wrote for the documentary was inspired by L\u00e9an\u2019s obsession with Greek mythology.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cL\u00e9an taught herself the Greek myths. She is a great reader. One day, she started speaking to me about Persephone, asking me if I knew about her.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Persephone was the daughter of Demeter who was abducted to the Underworld by Hades. Her cyclical return to earth each year symbolises the rebirth of spring and summer. For Ailbhe, the myth is also about motherhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, I\u2019d have huge anxiety. In the context of the Greek myth, Persephone is becoming aware of the world around her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of her own daughter, Ailbhe says she often \u2018disappears\u2019 into her imagination. \u201cWe have to sometimes bring her back and say, \u2018brush your teeth\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was one day when she was bopping around the place, murmuring to herself. I asked her where she was. \u2018The Iliad,\u2019 she replied. You can see how the poem (for the documentary) wrote itself!\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that she is so enthralled by Greek myths, a recent trip with family to Greece must have been like a dream come true for L\u00e9an.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went in May because it was First Holy Communion season and L\u00e9an wasn\u2019t participating. We gave her an alternative. We had ten days in Athens and Rhodes. We went to Delphi and the Acropolis; it was the trip of a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ailbhe acknowledges that it\u2019s hard to withstand the pressure on children to make First Communion, she says L\u00e9an is \u201cquite independent\u201d, adding: \u201cWhen we were in Greece, she used to leave little offerings for Apollo, bits of bread. She\u2019s a very proud Pagan.\u201d<\/p>\n

L\u00e9an\u2019s sister is a keen painter and very good at drawing.<\/p>\n

Ailbhe\u2019s day job is as senior lecturer in the department of Modern Irish at UCC. Billy is self-employed, running an educational publishing company.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly is used to having deadlines,\u201d says Ailbhe. \u201cI really appreciate having a permanent and pensionable job. Billy knows the importance of showing up for poetry. Whether you write anything or not is irrelevant. It\u2019s about being there and getting the pen moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that Billy \u2013 and motherhood \u2013 have taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early motherhood in particular gave writing an urgency with its ability to realise the self, observes Ailbhe.<\/p>\n

In her teaching career, Ailbhe taught M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap from Kneecap Irish literature. She knew him as Naoise \u00d3 Caireall\u00e1in and says she has \u201cnothing but good things to say about him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kneecap, with its rapping in both English and Irish, is an example of how Irish has become trendy in recent times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the trendiness of Irish at the moment can distract us from the real crisis which is in the Gaeltacht,\u201d said Ailbhe.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for native speakers to get planning permission to build homes. The Gaeltacht areas need our support.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no point in having pop-up Gaeltachts in the cities. Getting planning permission depends on the county councils. Some of them have been slow to acknowledge that Irish speakers should be granted planning permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake, for example, the Kerry Gaeltacht, Corca Dhuibhne. It\u2019s over- touristy. There are so many Airbnbs that it\u2019s difficult to rent there, never mind build a house.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to the question as to whether Irish should continue to be compulsory at school, Ailbhe is strident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that to not have Irish compulsory is to make it exclusionary. We should be inclusive and have everyone learning it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearning maths isn\u2019t a walk in the park but it fires up neurons and it\u2019s the same with Irish. To deprive a child of that is a real shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ailbhe never had to learn Irish formally. \u201cI\u2019m delighted to make that happen for my kids as well and it makes learning other languages a lot easier,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n In The Studio: From Kitchen Table To The Underworld: The Poetry Of Ailbhe N\u00ed Ghearbhuigh is on BBC World Service on June 30 at 4.32am and will be on BBC Sounds as a podcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The process of creating a poem by a Cork-based poet is the subject of a documentary to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[288,72,61,60],"class_list":["post-523014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-books","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523014","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=523014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}