Conradh na Gaeilge, Dublin.
Gaelic League, known as
Conradh na Gaeilge ( ); abbreviated
CnaG, is a non-governmental organisation,
founded in 1893, that promotes the Irish
language in Ireland
and
abroad.
Origins
The Gaelic
League was founded in Dublin
on 31 July,
1893 by Douglas Hyde ( ), a Protestant from Frenchpark
, County
Roscommon
with the aid
of Eugene O'Growney, Eoin MacNeill, Luke K. Walsh and
others. The League developed from
Ulick
Bourke's earlier
Gaelic Union and
became the leading institution promoting the
Gaelic Revival. The League's first newspaper
was
An Claidheamh
Soluis (
The Sword of Light) and its most noted
editor was
Patrick Pearse.
Though apolitical, the League attracted many Irish nationalists of
different persuasions, much like the
Gaelic Athletic Association. It
was through the League that many future political leaders and
rebels first met, laying the foundation for groups such as the
Irish Volunteers (1913). However,
the League did not commit itself entirely to the national movement
until 1915, causing the resignation of Douglas Hyde, who felt that
the culture of language should be above politics. Most of the
signatories of the
1916 Proclamation were
members.
From 1922
After the foundation of the
Irish Free
State in 1922, the organisation had a less prominent role in
public life as Irish was made a compulsory subject in state-funded
schools. The organisation successfully campaigned for the enactment
of the Official Languages Act, 2003 which gave greater statutory
protection to Irish speakers and created the position of
An
Coimisinéir Teanga (The Languages Commissioner).
Conradh na Gaeilge was among the principal organisation responsible
for co-ordinating the successful campaign to make Irish an
official language of the
European Union.
Most recently, the organisation has become embroiled in a dispute
with Irish political party
Fine Gael over
the party's policy to end the status of Irish as a compulsory
subject for the
Leaving
Certificate. Conradh na Gaeilge have responded by asking voters
in the next general election to vote only for candidates who are in
favour of Irish's required position remaining.
The
organisation has branches in several parts of Ireland and is
closely involved in the development of the annual cultural
festival, Oireachtas na
Gaeilge, as well as the annual Seachtain na Gaeilge promotional
campaign. Conradh na Gaeilge has recently opened free legal
advice centres (
Ionaid Saor Chomhairle Dlí) in Dublin and
Galway in partnership with
Free Legal Advice Centres.
Most
recently, the Minister for
Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, has announced that
he is to move the organisation out of its headquarters in central
Dublin and relocate the organisation to the heart of the
Ráth Cairn
Gaeltacht
in
Meath. He cited the reason that not many people are using
the building.
See also
Institute of Irish
References
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