Departmental Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Naoise Ó Muirí (FG), Dublin Bay North

I will segue a little into Deputy Tóibín's contribution in relation to an Ghaeilge. I was reared in Cois Fharraige, Connemara, in the Gaeltacht. The change in attitude towards the Irish language in Cois Fharraige and the Gaeltacht is nothing less than transformational. When I went to school, an Ghaeilge was not cool. That is the bottom line among the younger generations. That is where the idea of nine Irish speakers converting to speaking English with the single English speaker comes from. That is no longer the case in Connemara, as far as I am concerned. It is very hard to pinpoint what happened. I think a combination of TG4, "Ros na Rún", Telegael, Gteic and that type of stuff has made it cool again to speak the Irish language. There is an entire generation, the next generation down, which is supportive of Irish and favourable to it. If the Minister were to walk into Siopa an Phobail in Indreabhán, the nine speakers will convert the other way round. I have a couple of other questions to ask, but I will leave it at that for now.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14