by Brandon Callahan

The search for a unique difference was at the heart of the campaign for independence in Ireland throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. One manner through which this aim could be achieved was the exploration and implementation of the Gaelic language as a cultural and national identifier. The Irish Gaelic language was utilized to great effect through organizations such as the Gaelic Athletic Association and Conradh na Gaeilge. The language was then institutionalized, affirming its official status through An Caighdeán Oifigiúl and the establishment of the Gaeltacht communities. As a form of resistance and a unique cultural identifier, the language was again implemented as a political tool in the Jailtacht of Northern Ireland’s prisons during the Troubles. This paper will explore these uses of the Irish Gaelic language as a means to assert difference and establish a unique culture of Irish identity.

From the Plantation of Ireland by the English, language has been viewed and used as a tool to control the thoughts and actions of people, and moreover, others’ perceptions of Irish people as distinct. The process of defining themselves as different was not smooth: “the first mark there of hostility to Gaelic was perhaps the Act of 1609 for the suppression of the bards with the concurrent act expecting every laird and gentleman that he send his eldest child south to receive ‘an English and Protestant Education’”.[i] The Irish Gaelic language as early as 1609 was viewed as indicative of the Irish people and as such was contested by the English settlers and the language they brought with them.

Centuries of linguistic and cultural oppression culminated in the nineteenth century with a push towards Gaelic revivalism. Spearheaded by leading figures such as Douglas Hyde and Éamon De Valera, the connection of an Irish identity and an Irish nation drawn together through the Irish Gaelic language became an evident method of unification in efforts towards Home Rule and the Free State[ii]. In Hyde’s famous 1892 address on ‘The Necessity for De-Anglicizing Ireland’ he states that:

While our social and commercial relations make it a necessity for every man and woman and child in this kingdom to learn English sooner or later, reverence for our past history, regard for the memory of our ancestors, our national honour, and the fear of becoming materialized and loving our best and highest characteristic call upon us imperatively to assist the Irish speaking population at the present crisis and to establish for all time a bi-lingual population in those parts of Ireland where Irish is now spoken, from whom all those who in the distant future may wish to investigate the history or the antiquities of our nation, may draw as from a fountain that vernacular knowledge which for such purpose is indispensably necessary.[iii]

Hyde outlines the emotions held by Irish speaking nationalists and revivalists during this era. With the founding of Conradh na Gaeilge (or the Gaelic League) in 1893, the recognition of the importance the Irish language held in the creation of an independent Ireland was understood and emphasized.[iv] Hyde mirrors these sentiments recognizing the Irish language as the most critical element in the Irish national identity.[v] The popularity of the Gaelic League and the Gaelic League idea took flight and, “by 1908 over 600 branches of the organization had been established, recruiting strongly amongst the lower middle class and in the English-speaking urban centres.”[vi] The Gaelic League would spread to all corners of the island and garner influential and powerful members swept up in the revival of not just the language, but the identity of Ireland as a whole.

With the Gaelic League reaching as far North and into contested religious and ideological regions such as Belfast in 1895,[vii] the organization made a significant impact on the development of the language and its literature promoting heritage and identity to those who subscribed to the organization’s concept and beliefs. De Brún claims “the success of the Gaelic League in Belfast was no small measure the result of an effective collaboration between native speakers who were keen to pass the language on and enthusiasts who had learned Irish as a second language.”[viii] According to De Brún, the League enabled the creation of an Irish identity in Belfast through the medium of the Irish language. This was made possible by the eagerness to establish a unique Irish identity and to share a working knowledge of the Irish Gaelic language solidifying the language and expanding through the subscription of citizens to the Gaelic League.

Concerning Irish identity and the Gaelic League, Seán Ó Tuama states that: “the Gaelic League since its foundation has seen the restoration of the Irish language as fundamental to the preservation and development of our national identity.”[ix] The emphasis on identity was at the core of the Gaelic League, during its creation the founders wished to keep the League clear of politics, a noble gesture that would draw the attention and interest of many non-native speakers who wished to pursue the language and build a national identity around it.[x] Inevitably, those most active in the organization would bring the League to the forefront of hot politics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as Ireland pushed for Home Rule and fell into a War of Independence.

At the turn of the nineteenth century ideas of nationality and identity encompassed Europe, resulting in the creation of numerous associations. With the development of sport and leisure few viewed this new area of community as an avenue to create and establish identity and push political aims. At the tip of the spear in Ireland was the creation of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA): “Established in 1884, the general aim of the GAA has been to promote Irish culture with sport being given a pre-eminent position in this respect.”[xi] Emphasis was placed on ensuring the continuity of Irish sports being played in Ireland, through the medium of the Irish Gaelic language. The GAA served not only as a tool for the promotion of sport and leisure on the island, but also as a link connecting the development of the political sphere to that of the sporting world.

The Gaelic Athletic Association aimed to instill a sense of national unity through uniquely Irish sports and supported this through a Gaelic-only policy. Graham Walker and Alan Bairner claim that, “in seeking to fulfill this role, the association has arguably done more than any similar institution anywhere in the world to encapsulate the relationship between sport, religion, and politics.”[xii] Indeed, the association played an integral role in promoting and establishing several leaders of Ireland’s political elite in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These members advocated for the Home Rule of Ireland, and in turn, the Irish Republic, all the while supporting claims to a unique Irish identity exemplified through both language and sport. Irish language was institutionalized in the GAA’s Official Guide stating:

Those who play its games, those who organize its activities and those who control its destinies see in the G.A.A. a means of consolidating our Irish identity. The games to them are more than games – they have a national significance – and the promotion of native pastimes becomes a part of the full national ideal, which envisages the speaking of our own language, music and dances…Since she has not control over all the national territory, Ireland’s claim to nationhood is impaired. It would be still more impaired if she were to lose her language, if she failed to provide a decent livelihood for her people at home, or if she were to forsake her own games and customs in favor of the games and customs of another nation.[xiii]

The Gaelic Athletic Association thus provided a means for the Irish citizen to promote and take pride in a history and culture, reinforcing a collective identity supported through language. In cooperation with political and religious aims and affiliates, the GAA was able to influence a large span of Irish citizens and promote the revival of Irish Gaelic among nearly all communities across the island.

Ensuring the survival of the Irish language symbolically represented the ensured survival of the Irish people and their cultural heritage as well as identity. Legitimizing the language meant producing an official standard by which all Irish, across the three dialects Munster, Connacht, and Ulster, could be recognized, taught, and understood. The result was the publication in 1958 of Grammadach na Gaeilge agus Litriú na Gaeilge: An Caighdeán Oifigiúl (Irish Grammar and Orthography: Official Standard), commonly referred to as An Caighdeán Oifigiúl or in English as the Official Standard.[xiv] By standardizing the language and utilizing the Latin alphabet in lieu of the old-style script, the Official Standard made learning the Irish language more accessible to non-native speakers, especially those with English as a first language.

Irish Gaelic could be taught through the school system using one system, with the idea of guaranteeing a universal standard of teaching. The publication, however, was subject to the political situation of the island at the time, and favoured the Connacht and Munster dialects of the Republic, over the Ulster dialect of the British state of Northern Ireland.[xv] Even through these issues, the notion of standardization demonstrated a willingness to ensure the continued education and support of the Irish language. Concepts of the Irish national identity hinged on the success of the legitimization of the Irish language in a global context. By applying universal rules and regulations governing the spelling of words, conjugation of verbs, and grammar, the Irish linguistic identity was enshrined throughout Europe and led to the recognition of the Irish language by the European Union. It legitimized the peoples’ claim to identity and recognized it on paper officially.

Official recognition of the Irish Gaelic language and its importance to the identity and culture of Ireland was also demonstrated through the Gaelic speaking areas of Ireland known as the Gaeltacht. The Gaeltacht has always been recognized as the heartland of the Irish language, a collection of regions geographically consuming and spotting the West coast of Ireland. Gaeltacht initiatives, historically, have reflected an interested in the preservation, and promotion of the Irish language. In 1926, Free State Ireland defined the areas of the Gaeltacht as electorally founded on linguistic criteria, and that the regions in question held or maintained “80 per cent of the resident population returned as Irish speakers according to the 1911 census.”[xvi] This demonstrates a conscious effort at the behest of the newly established Free State to ensure the preservation of Irish, not just as a national language, but also as a first language and a language of home. In doing so, members of the Gaeltacht Commission and those involved in the establishment of the protection of the Gaeltacht ensured a method in which the Irish language could be maintained as a first language in Ireland.

Liam Mac Cóil claims that there are “two perspectives on Irish” maintaining that “firstly, it can be seen as the national language, as the language spoken by some Irish people and of which others have some knowledge”[xvii] and secondly, it may be “Irish as the usual means of communication on a daily or weekly basis amongst a small percentage of people.”[xviii] This second perspective on the Irish Language pertains to those living in Gaeltacht communities. The Gaeltacht, for these reasons, has been viewed as the traditionally bearing region of Irish identity, and has borne the weight of the preservation of Irish as a first language and Irish cultural identity. The Gaeltacht, it would seem, has thus held pinnacle positions for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in establishing and maintaining the Irish identity sought after by the revivalists in the early nineteenth and late twentieth centuries.

In a similar manner to Mac Cóil’s two perspectives on Irish, two ‘forms’ of the Gaeltacht are recognized. The ‘Breac-Gaeltacht’ describes the adjacent areas around the Gaeltacht where 25-75 percent of the residents returned the 1911 census as Irish-speakers, and the ‘Fíor-Gaeltacht’ is the term used to depict the Gaeltacht proper.[xix] Those who identify themselves on census returns as Irish speakers, it can be argued, make a claim to their Irish identity as authentic. The Gaeltacht further supports the idea of an authentic Irish identity through the acknowledgement of the regions Irish Gaelic use.

An example can be drawn from the Troubles of Northern Ireland in relation to boldly identifying as Irish through the Irish Gaelic language. A resurgence of Irish Gaelic emerged amongst Republican political prisoners of the conflict interned in the jails during the conflict. The use of the Irish language came to be coined as ‘Jailic’ – a play on words, marrying the Irish word for Gaelic and the word jail. Furthermore, the creation of teaching institutions and methods within these prisons became known as Jailtachts, a hint at the established Gaelic speaking regions previously mentioned, known as the Gaeltacht.[xx]

The creation of the Jailtacht was symbolic of resistance against the English and British rule (and physical presence) in Northern Ireland. In the wake of the criminalization of interned Republican prisoners of the Troubles in HMP Long Kesh, a series of protests ensued. The Blanket Protest of 1976, followed by the Dirty Protest of 1978, and the Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981 were all nonviolent ways in which the prisoners resisted their situations.[xxi] In a similar light, many of the Nationalist, Republican, prisoners used the education of Irish Gaelic to further entrench their political views and resist the English internment and guards. Most prisoners had no previous knowledge of the Irish language. However, they would leave the prisons fluent.[xxii] Gaelic education became a focal point amongst the prisoners in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. An identity that many had sought was being unveiled under the guise of resistance. This would in turn lead to a smaller scale Gaelic revival among the Nationalist population of Northern Ireland.

The Irish identity, as with any other, is difficult to clearly define. This is because any identity is fluid and determined on both an individual and collective level. Undoubtedly, language and claims to a language help to solidify concepts of self-identification and can be used to unify nations. Through organizations such as Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) and the Gaelic Athletic Association, Irish identity found roots in its language. Institutionalized and legitimized by Grammadach na Gaeilge agus Litriú na Gaeilge: An Caighdeán Oifigiúl (Irish Grammar and Orthography: Official Standard) and the Gaeltacht, the Irish language was viewed as genuine and recognized as such, giving credence to claims of a unique Irish national identity. This concept was further emphasized through the resistance demonstrated in the Jailtacht of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Language continues to act as a lens through which people identify themselves with and also recognize others; claims to this unique identity can only be understood by examining the various ways through which language was and is utilized as a means to produce a distinct and unique identity.

References

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