THE INFLUENCE OF THE IRISH LANGUAGE

From Irish Ideas by William O'Brien, 1893

Page 70

THE INFLUENCE OF THE IRISH LANGUAGE

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tions merely meant to set young Irishmen thinking, to attempt to lay down the limits within which a revival of the Irish language may be practicable. We should be but copying the precedents observed in Wales and in the Scottish Highlands if, in any parish where a fourth or more of the school-goers spoke Gaelic, a Gaelic-speaking schoolmaster, specially well paid for his bilingual accomplishments, were to be appointed, and if in every Gaelic-speaking petty sessions district a knowledge of the native tongue were to be made a prime qualification for magistrates and public officials within its borders.

Going a step higher, there seems to be no good reason, either of utility or of culture, why the national language should not take the place of Latin and Greek, or even of French, in our intermediate courses. For nine out of every ten young heads crammed with bad Latin and worse French, these attainments vanish almost with the publication of the prize list, while a knowledge of the language which would open to them the hearts of the Gaelic peasantry, and the secrets of their forefathers' romantic story, would remain with them a source of living intellectual interest. No less than 403 candidates in Gaelic presented themselves to the Intermediate examiners last year. Inasmuch as probably a couple of hundred thousand of our young countrymen have been condemned to nibble at French and Latin, here would be a sacred band enrolled at once to snatch up the torch of Gaelic lore from the western turf fires and carry it burning merrily through the Island. The Irish Catholic Episcopacy have opened the way to a still vaster change by erecting a Professorship of Irish in Maynooth. It is not an exaggeration to say that if the Rev. Professor O'Growney could only impart his own enthusiasm to the young priests who quit Maynooth in … continue reading »

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