The

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

originated in Ireland and has historically been the dominant language of the Irish people. They took it with them to a number of other countries, and in Scotland and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

it gave rise to

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

and Manx, respectively. In the late 19th century, English became widespread in Ireland, but Irish-speakers had already shown their ability to deal with modern political and social changes through their own language at a time when emigration was strongest. Irish was the language that a large number of emigrants took with them from the 17th century (when large-scale emigration, forced or otherwise, became noticeable) to the 19th century, when emigration reached new levels. The Irish diaspora mainly settled in English-speaking countries, chiefly Britain and North America. In some instances the Irish language was retained for several generations.

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

was the only non-English-speaking country to which the Irish went in large numbers,Viva Irlanda! Exploring the Irish in Argentina
/ref> and those emigrants came in the 19th century from areas where Irish was already in retreat. An interest in the language has persisted among a minority in the diaspora countries, and even in countries where there was never a significant Irish presence. This has been shown in the founding of language classes (including some at tertiary level), in the use of the Internet, and in contributions to journalism and literature.

Britain

Irish speakers of all social classes were to be found in early modern Britain. Irish beggars were common in 16th century England, and from the late 16th century many unskilled Irish labourers settled in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, Bristol and London. Aristocratic Irish speakers included the Nugent brothers, members of Ireland's "Old English" community: Christopher Nugent, 9th Baron Delvin, who wrote an Irish-language primer for

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, and William Nugent, an Irish language poet who is known to have been at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1571.

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's plays contain one line in Irish, " Caleno custore me" in Act IV Scene 4 of

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...

. This was the title of a popular

Sean nos song Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angliciz ...

, ''

Cailín Óg a Stór Cailín Óg a Stór (Irish for "O Darling Young Girl") is a traditional Irish melody, originally accepted for publication in March 1582. It may be the source of Pistol's cryptic line in Henry V, '' Caleno custure me''. It is part of a broadside ...

'' ("I'm a young girl from the

River Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

"). Irish speakers were among the Cavaliers brought over from Ireland during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Language and cultural differences were partly responsible for the great hostility they encountered in England. Among them were troops commanded by Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin and who followed him when he later sided with Parliament. Large-scale Irish immigration, including many Irish speakers, began with the building of canals from the 1780s and of railways in the nineteenth century. More Irish settled in industrial towns in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

in the late eighteenth century than in any other county. Many Irish were attracted to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

in the mid-1820s by rapid industrial expansion. The city had large households of Irish speakers, often from the same parts of

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

and Sligo. In Manchester a sixth of the family heads were Irish by 1835. By the 1830s Irish speakers were to be found in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Glasgow and the larger towns of South Wales.

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Stafford from the 1830s.Camp, pp. 8–10 The Great Famine of the later 1840s brought an influx of Irish speakers to England, Wales and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Many arrived from such counties as Mayo, Cork,

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, Bristol, and the towns of South Wales and Lancashire, and often moved on to London. Navvies found work on the South Wales Railway. There are reports of Irish-speaking communities in some quarters of Liverpool in the Famine years (1845–52). Irish speakers from Munster were common among London immigrants, with many women speaking little or no English. Around 100,000 Irish had arrived in London by 1851. The Irish Nationalist politician and lawyer A.M. Sullivan described an 1856 visit to the industrial "Black Country" of the West Midlands where "in very many of the houses not one of the women could speak English, and I doubt that in a single house the Irish was not the prevalent language". The Gaelic Revival in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century led to formation of branches of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...

abroad, including British cities. There were three branches of the Gaelic League in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

by 1902 and a branch was also founded in

. In the aftermath of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

there were a large number of Irish working in Britain in the construction industry, rebuilding the cities destroyed by

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

bombs, and as nurses. Many of them, both in provincial towns and in London, were from the

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially reco ...

aí, and Irish was commonly heard on building sites, in

Irish pub An Irish pub is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. Irish pubs are characterised by a unique culture centred around a casual and friendly atmosphere, hearty food and drink, Irish sports, and ...

s, and in

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in ...

s. While rebuilding the bombed damaged cities of postwar Britain,

Dónall Mac Amhlaigh Dónall Peadar Mac Amhlaigh (10 December 1926 – 27 January 1989) was an Irish writer active during the 20th century. A native of County Galway, he is best known for his Irish-language works about life as a labourer in the post-Second Wo ...

, a native of Barna, County Galway, kept an

Irish-language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...

diary, which he published as, ''Dialann Deoraí''. It was translated into English by Valentine Iremonger and published in 1964 under the title ''An Irish Navvy: The Diary of an Exile''.

London

Irish immigrants were a notable element of London life from the early seventeenth century. They engaged in seasonal labour and street selling, and became common around St Giles in the Fields during the eighteenth century, being prominent among the London poor. Many of them were discharged soldiers. The Old Bailey trial records give a glimpse of the use of Irish in London backstreets, including an instance where a court interpreter was required (1768). The first Irish colony was in St Giles in the Fields and Seven Dials. By the early nineteenth century Irish communities existed in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

Saffron Hill Saffron Hill is a street and ward in the south eastern corner of the London Borough of Camden, between Farringdon Road and Hatton Garden. The name of the street derives from the fact that it was at one time part of an estate on which saffron g ...

, Poplar and Southwark, and especially in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

. Typical occupations were hawking and costermongering.

Henry Mayhew Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...

estimated in the 1850s that around 10,000 Irish men and women were so employed. The writer and linguist

George Borrow George Henry Borrow (5 July 1803 – 26 July 1881) was an English writer of novels and of travel based on personal experiences in Europe. His travels gave him a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure strongly in his work. Hi ...

gives an account (1851) of his father venturing into the Irish-speaking slums of London in the early years of the nineteenth century. The use of the language was affected by a decline in the number of immigrants. By the middle of the nineteenth century the Irish-born numbered around 109,000 individuals (4.5% of Londoners). By 1861 their number had fallen to 107,000, in 1871 to 91,000, and in 1901 to 60,000. The Gaelic League was active in London as elsewhere. The London branch had a number of notable London Irish figures as members, and it was a pioneer in the publication of Irish-language material.

Irish language in contemporary Britain

The current estimate of fluent Irish speakers permanently resident in Britain is 9,000. The Gaelic League retains a presence in Britain (the current

branch was founded in 1895), and the Irish-language organization Coláiste na nGael and its allies run language classes and other events all over Britain. The areas concerned include London, Essex, Leicestershire and Somerset. There is an active Irish language scene in Manchester with two groups, Conradh na Gaeilge (Manchester branch) and the Manchester Irish Language Group, who have organised an annual arts festival since 2007. The British Association for Irish Studies (established 1985) aims to support Irish cultural activities and the study of Ireland in Britain. This includes promotion of the Irish language.

North America

Irish people brought the language with them to North America as early as the 17th century (when it is first mentioned). In the 18th century it had many speakers in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Immigration from Irish-speaking counties to America was strong throughout the 19th century, particularly after the Great Famine of 1840s, and many manuscripts in Irish came with the immigrants. The Irish language in Newfoundland was introduced in the late 17th century and was widely spoken there until the early 20th century. Local place names in the

include Newfoundland (''Talamh an Éisc'', ''Land of the Fish'') and St. John's (''Baile Sheáin'') Ballyhack (''Baile Hac''), Cappahayden (''Ceapach Éidín''), Kilbride and St. Bride's (''Cill Bhríde''), Duntara, Port Kirwan and

Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The name "Skibbereen" (sometimes shortened to "Skibb") means "little boat harbour". The River Ilen runs through the town; it reac ...

(''Scibirín''). In the oral tradition of County Waterford, the poet

Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara (1715–1810) was an Irish schoolmaster of a hedge school, Jacobite propagandist, anti-hero in Irish folklore, and composer of poetry in both Munster Irish and in the Irish language outside Ireland. Life He was born ...

, a hedge school teacher and notorious rake from the district of

Sliabh gCua Sliabh gCua (formerly anglicized as 'Slieve Gua' or 'Slieve Goe')Tempan, Paul"Sliabh in Irish Place-Names". Queen's University Belfast, 2008. p.29 is a traditional district of west County Waterford, Ireland, between Clonmel and Dungarvan, cover ...

, is said to have sailed for Newfoundland around 1743, allegedly to escape the wrath of a man whose daughter the poet had impregnated. For a long time, it was doubted whether the poet ever made the trip. During the 21st century, however,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

s discovered that several of Donnchadh Ruadh's poems in the

Gaelicize many words and terms known to be unique to

Newfoundland English Newfoundland English is a term referring to any of several accents and dialects of Atlantic Canadian English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in ...

. For this reason, Donnchadh Ruadh's poems are considered the earliest solid evidence of the Irish language in Newfoundland. In

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, County Galway-born

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

Maitias Ó Conbhuí spent thirty years attempting to compile a dictionary of the Irish language, which remained unfinished upon his death in 1842. The

poet and

monoglot Monoglottism (Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...

speaker Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún (1777–1856), a native of

Ballymacoda Ballymacoda () is a small village in County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the village had a population of 185 people. Located in East Cork, the village is home to one pub, a post office, and Saint Peter in Chains Roman Catholic church. T ...

, County Cork, emigrated to America around 1826 and settled with his family on a

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

near

Deerfield, New York Deerfield is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 4,273 at the 2010 census. The Town of Deerfield is on the eastern border of the county and northeast of the City of Utica. History Deerfield was formed from t ...

. There were many other Irish-speakers in and around Deerfield and Cúndún never had to learn English. He died in Deerfield in 1857Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), ''North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora'', McGill-Queen's University Press. Pages 108–136. and lies buried at St. Agnes Cemetery in

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...

. Cúndún's many works of

American poetry American poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies (although ...

composed in

Munster Irish Munster Irish () is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. Gaeltacht regions in Munster are found in the Gaeltachtaí of the Dingle Peninsula in west County Kerry, in the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, in Cap ...

have survived through the letters he wrote to his relatives and former neighbors in Ballymacoda and due to the fact that his son, "Mr. Pierce Condon of

South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Ter ...

", arranged for two of his father's poems to be published by the ''Irish-American'' in 1858. The first collection of Cúndún's poetry was edited by Risteard Ó Foghludha and published in 1932. Kenneth E. Nilsen, an American

who specialized in

Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edwar ...

in North America, referred to Cúndún as, "the most notable Irish monoglot speaker to arrive in this country", and added that, "his letters and poems, written in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

to his neighbours in

, County Cork, represent the most important body of Pre-

Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

writing in Irish from the United States." In 1851, the ''Irish-American'', a weekly newspaper published in New York City, published what is believed to be, "the first original composition in Irish to be published in the United States". It was a three stanza poem describing an

on Duane Street in what is now the

Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stree ...

neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. The poem's style is that of the Irish-language poetry of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the only difference is that it describes a pub located in the Irish diaspora. In 1857, the ''Irish-American'' added a regular column in the

. The first five original poems which were published in the column were submitted by Irish poets living in present-day

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

.Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), ''North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora'', McGill-Queen's University Press. Page 10-11. During the 1860s in South Boston, Massachusetts, Bríd Ní Mháille, an immigrant from the village of Trá Bhán, on the island of Garmna, County Galway, composed the Irish-language '' caoineadh'' '' Amhrán na Trá Báine'', which is about the drowning of her three brothers, whose ''

currach A currach ( ) is a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame, over which animal skins or hides were once stretched, though now canvas is more usual. It is sometimes anglicised as "curragh". The construction and design of the currach are unique ...

'' was rammed and sunk while they were out at sea. Ní Mháille's lament for her brothers was first performed at a ceilidh in South Boston before being brought back to her native district in

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

, where it is considered one of the ''amhráin mhóra'' ("Big Songs") and it remains a very popular song among performers and fans of

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

. Beginning in the 1870s, the more politicized Irish-Americans began taking interest in their ancestral language. Gaelic revival organizations like the Philo-Celtic Society began springing up throughout the United States. Irish-American newspapers and magazines also began adding columns in the Irish-language. These same publications circulated widely among

Irish-Canadian ga, Gael-Cheanadaigh , image = Irish_Canadian_population_by_province.svg , image_caption = Irish Canadians as percent of population by province/territory , population = 4,627,00013.4% of the Canadian population (2016) , po ...

s. Furthermore, the sixth President of St. Bonaventure's College in St John's, Newfoundland was not only a member of the

Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (SPIL; ga, Cumann Buan-Choimeádta na Gaeilge) was a cultural organisation in late 19th-century Ireland, which was part of the Gaelic revival of the period. It was founded on 29 December 187 ...

, but also taught

classes there during the 1870s. Although the subject still remains to be explored, Kenneth E. Nilsen, an American

specializing in the

, argued in a posthumously published essay that "closer inspection would likely reveal a Canadian counterpart to the American language revival movement." In 1881, "", the first newspaper anywhere which was largely in Irish, was founded as part of the Gaelic revival by the Philo-Celtic Society chapter in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. It continued appearing until 1904 and it's published contributions included many works of

Irish folklore Irish folklore ( ga, béaloideas) refers to the folktales, balladry, music, dance, and so forth, ultimately, all of folk culture. Irish folklore, when mentioned to many people, conjures up images of banshees, fairies, leprechauns and people gat ...

collected in both Ireland and the United States. According to Tomás Ó hÍde, however, old issues of ''An Gaodhal'', while a priceless resource, are very difficult for modern readers of Irish to understand due to the publishers' use of

Gaelic type Gaelic type (sometimes called Irish character, Irish type, or Gaelic script) is a family of Insular script typefaces devised for printing Classical Gaelic. It was widely used from the 16th until the mid-18th century (Scotland) or the mid-20th ...

and an obsolete

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

.''An Gaodhal'', however, now has an on-line successor in '' An Gael'', which is edited by American-born Irish-language essayist and poet Séamas Ó Neachtain. Many other Irish immigrant newspapers in the English language in the 19th and 20th century similarly added Irish language columns. The Philo-Celtic Society chapter in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

published the bilingual newspaper, ''The Irish Echo'', from 1886 to 1894. Every issue bore an

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...

quote as the

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, s ...

, "No people will look forward to posterity who do not look backward to their ancestors." Every issue contained many works of Irish language literature and poetry submitted by Irish-Americans in and around Boston. Some were composed locally, but many others were transcribed and submitted from centuries-old heirloom Irish-language manuscripts which had been brought to the Boston area by recent immigrants. Also during the Gaelic revival, a regular Irish-language column titled ''Ón dhomhan diar'', generally about the hardships faced by immigrants to the United States, was contributed to

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...

's ''

An Claidheamh Soluis ''An Claidheamh Soluis'' () was an Irish nationalist newspaper published in the early 20th century by ''Conradh na Gaeilge'' (the Gaelic League). It was named for the " Sword of Light" (in modern spelling ''Claíomh Solais'') of Gaelic myth. ...

'' by

Pádraig Ó hÉigeartaigh Pádraig Ó hÉigeartaigh (1871–1936) was an Irish poet. Life Early life A native of Uíbh Ráthach, County Kerry, Ó hÉigeartaigh emigrated with his father, Patrick, a laborer, and his mother, Mary Lynch, to the United States when he was ...

(1871–1936). Ó hÉigeartaigh, an immigrant from Uíbh Ráthach, County Kerry, worked in the clothing business and lived with his family in Springfield, Massachusetts. Ó hÉigeartaigh also wrote poetry for the same publication in

. His poem ''Ochón! a Dhonncha'' ("My Sorrow, Dhonncha!"), a lament for the drowning of his six-year-old son on 22 August 1905, appeared in Pearse's magazine in 1906. Although the early authors of the Gaelic revival preferred to write in the

literary language A literary language is the form (register) of a language used in written literature, which can be either a nonstandard dialect or a standardized variety of the language. Literary language sometimes is noticeably different from the spoken langua ...

once common to both Ireland and Scotland and felt scorn for the oral poetry of the

aí, Ó hÉigeartaigh drew upon that very tradition to express his grief and proved that it could still be used effectively by a 20th-century poet. Ó hÉigeartaigh's lament for his son has a permanent place in the

literary canon The term canon derives from the Greek (), meaning "rule", and thence via Latin and Old French into English. The concept in English usage is very broad: in a general sense it refers to being one (adjectival) or a group (noun) of official, authent ...

of Irish poetry in the

and has been translated into English by both

and

Thomas Kinsella Thomas Kinsella (4 May 192822 December 2021) was an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher. Born outside Dublin, Kinsella attended University College Dublin before entering the civil service. He began publishing poetry in the early 1950s ...

. One of the most talented 20th-century Irish-language poets and folklore collectors in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

was Seán Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin (Sean "Irish" O'Sullivan) (1882–1957). Ó Súilleabháin, whom literary scholar Ciara Ryan has dubbed "Butte's Irish Bard", was born into the Irish-speaking fishing community upon Inishfarnard, a now-uninhabited island off the

Beara Peninsula Beara ( ga, Béarra) or the Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" (actually a bay) to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It contains two mountain ranges running down it ...

in West

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

. In 1905, Ó Súilleabháin sailed aboard the ocean liner ''

RMS Lucania RMS ''Lucania'' was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company, built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, 2 February 1893. Identical in dimensions and ...

'' from Queenstown to

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

and settled in the heavily Irish-American mining community in Butte, Montana. Following his arrival in America, Ó Súilleabháin never returned to Ireland. In the State of Montana, however, he learned through classes taught by the Butte chapter of

Conradh na Gaeilge (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

to read and write in his native language for the first time. Ó Súilleabháin also married and raised a family. Seán Ó Súilleabháin remained a very influential figure in Butte's Irish-American literary, Irish republican, and Pro-

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

circles for the rest of his life. In the O'Sullivan Collection in the Butte-Silver Bow Archives, Ó Súilleabháin is also revealed to have transcribed many folksongs and oral poetry from his childhood memories of Inishfarnard and the

. Seán Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin was also a highly talented poet in his own right who drew inspiration fro
Diarmuid na Bolgaí Ó Sé
(c.1755–1846), Máire Bhuidhe Ní Laoghaire (1774-c.1848), and Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún (1777–1857), who had previously adapted the tradition of Aisling, or "Vision poetry", from the

Jacobite Risings , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

of the 18th century to more recent struggles by the

Irish people The Irish ( ga, Muintir na hÉireann or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common history and Culture of Ireland, culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years ...

. For this reason, Ó Súilleabháin's surviving Aisling poems; such as ''Cois na Tuinne'' ("Beside the Wave"), ''Bánta Mín Éirinn Glas Óg'' ("The Lush Green Plains of Ireland"), and the highly popular 1919 poem ''Dáil Éireann''; adapted the same tradition to the events of the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921).Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), ''North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora'', McGill-Queen's University Press. Pages 238–240. According to Ó Súilleabháin scholar Ciara Ryan, "Like many '' aislingí'' of the eighteenth century, Seán's work is replete with historical and literary reference] to Irish and Classical mythology, Classical

literary character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in ...

s." According to the poet's son, Fr. John Patrick Sarsfield O'Sullivan ("Fr. Sars") of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena The Diocese of Helena ( la, Dioecesis Helenensis) is the Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in western Montana with its cathedral located in Helena. The diocese was created from the year-old Apostolic Vicariate ...

, his father read the ''Aisling'' poem ''Dáil Éireann'' aloud during

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

's 1919 visit to Butte. The future

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

of the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

was reportedly so impressed that he urged Ó Súilleabháin to submit the poem to ''Féile Craobh Uí Gramnaigh'' ("O'Growney's Irish Language Competition") in San Francisco. Ó Súilleabháin took de Valera's advice and won both first prize and the gold medal for the poem. Seán Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin's papers in the Butte-Silver Bow Archives also include many transcriptions of the verse of other local Irish-language poets. One example is the poem ''Amhrán na Mianach'' ("The Song of the Mining"), which, "lays bare the hardships of a miner's life", was composed in Butte by Séamus Feiritéar (1897–1919), his brother Mícheál, and their childhood friend Seán Ruiséal. Another local Irish-language poem transcribed in Ó Súilleabháin's papers was composed in 1910 by Séamus Ó Muircheartaigh, a Butte mine worker from

Corca Dhuibhne The Dingle Peninsula ( ga, Corca Dhuibhne; anglicised as Corkaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point o ...

, County Kerry, who was nicknamed ''An Spailpín'' ("The Farmhand"). The poem, which has eight stanzas and is titled, ''Beir mo Bheannacht leat, a Nellie'' ("Bring My Blessings with You, Nellie") recalls the poet's happy childhood in

and was composed while Ó Muircheartaigh's wife, Nellie, and their son, Oisín, were on an extended visit there. At the end of his life,

Micí Mac Gabhann Micí Mac Gabhann (22 November 1865 – 29 November 1948) was a seanchaí and memoirist from the County Donegal Gaeltacht. He is best known for his posthumously published emigration memoir ''Rotha Mór an tSaoil'' (1959). It was dictated to his ...

(1865–1948), a native Irish-speaker from

Cloughaneely Cloughaneely (official name: ) is a district in the west of County Donegal, Ireland. This is a mainly coastal area with a population of over 4,000 centred on the towns of Falcarragh () and Gortahork (). It is a Gaeltacht area, meaning the Irish ...

, County Donegal, dictated his life experiences in

, the

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, and the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

to his folklorist son-in-law, Seán Ó hEochaidh, who published the posthumously in the 1958 emigration memoir, ''Rotha Mór an tSaoil'' (" The Great Wheel of Life"). An English translation by Valentine Iremonger appeared in 1962 as, ''The Hard Road to Klondike''. The title of the English version refers to the Klondike gold rush, ''Ruathar an Óir'', at the end of the 19th century, and the hardships Irish-speakers endured working in the mines of ''Tír an Airgid'' ("The Land of Silver", or

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

) and ''Tír an Óir'' ("The Land of Gold", or the

). After making a fortune mining gold from his claim in the Yukon, Mac Gabhann returned to Cloughaneely, married, and bought the estate of a penniless Anglo-Irish landlord, and raised a family there. Irish retains some cultural importance in the northeast United States. According to the 2000 Census, 25,661 people in the U.S. spoke Irish in the home. The 2005 Census reported 18,815. The 2009-13 American Community Survey reported 20,590 speakers Furthermore, the tradition of Irish language literature and journalism in American newspapers continued with the weekly column of Barra Ó Donnabháin in New York City's '' Irish Echo''. Derry-born Pádraig Ó Siadhail (b. 1968) has been living in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, since 1987. In this period, he has published ten works in Irish, including a collection of short stories and two novels. In 2007 a number of Canadian speakers founded the first officially designated "Gaeltacht" outside Ireland in an area near

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...

(see main article Permanent North American Gaeltacht). Despite its designation, the area has no permanent Irish-speaking inhabitants. The site (named ''Gaeltacht Bhaile na hÉireann'') is located in

Tamworth, Ontario Tamworth is a small community in Stone Mills township in Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada. Tamworth is located due north of Napanee, and northeast of Belleville, near Beaver Lake. Beaver Lake flows into the Salmon River which runs thr ...

, and is to be a retreat centre for Irish-speaking Canadians and Americans.

University and college courses

The Irish government provides funding for suitably qualified Irish speakers to travel to Canada and the United States to teach the language at universities. This program has been coordinated by the

Fulbright Commission The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

in the United States and the Ireland Canada University Foundation in Canada. A number of North American universities have full-time lecturers in Modern Irish. These include Boston College,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, Lehman College-CUNY,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, Saint Mary's University in Halifax, the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, Concordia University in Montreal,

Elms College The College of Our Lady of the Elms, often called Elms College, is a private Roman Catholic in Chicopee, Massachusetts. History The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Springfield co-founded Elms as a girls' preparatory academy in Pitt ...

, Catholic University of America and most notably the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

. Two of these institutions offer undergraduate degrees with advanced Irish language coursework, the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Irish Language and Literature and Lehman College-CUNY with a BA in Comparative Literature, while the University of Pittsburgh offers an undergraduate Irish Minor. Irish language courses are also offered at St Michael's College in the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, at Cape Breton University, and at

Memorial University Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and i ...

in Newfoundland. In a 2016 article for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', Sinéad Ní Mheallaigh, who teaches Irish at

in St. John's, wrote, "There is a strong interest in the Irish language. Irish descendent and farmer Aloy O’Brien, who died in 2008 at the age of 93, taught himself Irish using the ''Buntús Cainte'' books and with help from his Irish-speaking grandmother. Aloy taught Irish in Memorial University for a number of years, and a group of his students still come together on Monday nights. One of his first students, Carla Furlong, invites the others to her house to speak Irish together as the “Aloy O’Brien

”’ group."Teaching Irish in Newfoundland, the most Irish place outside Ireland
by Sinéad Ní Mheallaigh, ''The Irish Times'', March 16, 2016. Sinéad Ní Mheallaigh further wrote, "An important part of my role here in Newfoundland is organising Irish language events, both in the university and the community. We held an Irish language

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

on four consecutive Mondays throughout November. Each evening consisted of a short film, and a

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

feature-length film, preceded by an Irish lesson. These events attracted people from all parts of society, not just those interested in Ireland and the language. The students took part in the international ''Conradh na Gaeilge'' events for ‘Gaeilge 24’ and we will have Gaelic sports and a huge Céilí mór later in March."

Australia

The Irish language reached Australia in 1788, along with English. Irish, when used by

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...

s in the early colonial period, was seen as a language of covert opposition, and was therefore viewed with suspicion by colonial authorities. The Irish constituted a larger proportion of the European population than in any other British colony, and there has been debate about the extent to which Irish was used in Australia. The historian

Patrick O'Farrell Patrick James O'Farrell (17 September 1933 – 25 December 2003) was an historian known for his histories of Roman Catholicism in Australia, Irish history and Irish Australian history. Early life and family O'Farrell was born on 17 Septembe ...

argued that the language was soon discarded; other historians, including Dymphna Lonergan and Val Noone, have argued that its use was widespread among the first generation, with some transmission to the second and occasional evidence of literacy. Most Irish immigrants came from counties in the west and south-west where Irish was strong (e.g.

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

and County Galway). It has been argued that at least half the approximately 150,000 Irish emigrants to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the 19th century spoke Irish, helping to make Irish the most widely used European language in Australia after English. English was essential to the Irish for their integration into public life. Irish, however, retained some cultural and symbolic importance, and the Gaelic revival was reflected in Australia in the work of local students and scholars. The language was taught in several

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

schools in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in the 1920s, and a bilingual magazine called ''An Gael'' was published. In the following years a small group of enthusiasts in the major cities continued to cultivate the language. In the 1970s there was a more general renewal of interest, supported by both local and immigrant activists. The Irish National Association, with support from the Sydney branch of the

(Conradh na Gaeilge), ran free classes in Sydney from the 1960s through to 2007, when the language group became independent. In 1993 Máirtín Ó Dubhlaigh, a Sydney-based Irish speaker, founded the first Irish language summer school, Scoil Samhraidh na hAstráile. This brought together for the first time Irish speakers and teachers from all over the country. The language also attracted some wider public attention. There is presently a network of Irish learners and users spread out across the country. The primary organised groups are the Irish Language Association of Australia (Cumann Gaeilge na hAstráile), Sydney Irish School and the Canberra Irish Language Association (Cumann Gaeilge Canberra). Multiple day courses are available twice a year in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. The association has won several prestigious prizes (the last in 2009 in a global competition run by

Glór na nGael Glór na nGael (; "voice of the Gaels") is an Irish-language organisation funded by Foras na Gaeilge which promotes Irish in three sectors: the family, community development, and business. It was established as a competition between community gro ...

and sponsored by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs). The 2011 census indicated that 1,895 people used Irish as a household language in Australia. This marks an increase from the 2001 census, which gave a figure of 828. The census does not count those who use Irish or other languages outside the household context. The Department of Celtic Studies at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

offers courses in

Modern Irish Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was t ...

linguistics,

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

and

language. The

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

houses a collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century books and manuscripts in Irish. Australians continue to contribute poetry, fiction, and journalism to Irish-language literary magazines, both in print and on-line. There is also a widely distributed electronic newsletter in Irish called ''An Lúibín''. The Irish language poet Louis De Paor lived with his family in

from 1987 to 1996 and published his first two poetry collections during his residence there. De Paor also gave poetry readings and other broadcasts in Irish on the

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

(a network set up for speakers of minority languages). He was given scholarships by the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...

in 1990, 1991 and 1995. Colin Ryan is an Australian whose short stories, set mostly in Australia and Europe, have appeared in the journals '' Feasta'', '' Comhar'' and '' An Gael''. He has also published poetry.

Cló Iar-Chonnacht Cló Iar-Chonnacht (CIC; ; "West Connacht Press") is an Irish language publishing company founded in 1985 by writer Micheál Ó Conghaile, a native speaker of Irish from Inis Treabhair in Connemara. He set the company up while still a student. ...

has published two collections of short stories by him: ''Teachtaireacht'' (2015) and ''Ceo Bruithne'' (2019). Two collections of his poetry have been published by Coiscéim: ''Corraí na Nathrach'' (2017) and ''Rogha'' (2022) Julie Breathnach-Banwait is an Australian citizen of Irish origin living in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. She is the author of a collection called ''Dánta Póca'' (''Pocket Poems''), published by Coiscéim in 2020 and ''Ar Thóir Gach Ní'', published by Coiscéim in 2022. She has regularly published her poetry in ''The Irish Scene'' magazine in

. Her poetry has been published in ''Comhar'' (Ireland) and ''An Gael'' (New York) as well as on idler.ie. She is a native of Ceantar na nOileán in

, County Galway.

New Zealand

Irish migration to New Zealand was strongest in the 1840s, the 1860s (at the time of the gold rush) and the 1870s. These immigrants arrived at a time when the

was still widely spoken in Ireland, particularly in the south-west and west. In the 1840s the New Zealand Irish included many discharged soldiers: over half those released in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

(the capital) in the period 1845–1846 were Irish, as were 56.8% of those released in the 1860s. There was, however, a fall in Irish immigration from the 1880s. At first the Irish clustered in certain occupations, with single women in domestic service and men working as navvies or miners. By the 1930s Irish Catholics were to be found in government service, in transport and in the liquor industry, and assimilation was well advanced. The use of Irish was influenced by immigrants' local origins, the time of their arrival and the degree to which a sense of Irishness survived. In 1894 the ''

New Zealand Tablet The ''New Zealand Tablet'' was a weekly Catholic periodical published in Dunedin from 1873 to 1996. History Originally aimed at the influx of Irish immigrants to the new country, the ''New Zealand Tablet'' was founded by the first Bishop of Duned ...

'', a

newspaper, published articles on the study of Irish. In 1895 it was resolved at a meeting in the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

that an Irish-language society on the lines of the Philo-Celtic Society of the United States should be established in New Zealand. Chapters of the

were founded in both Milton and Balclutha and items in Irish were published by the ''Southern Cross'' of

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. In 1903 Fr. William Ganly, a native speaker of

Connacht Irish Connacht Irish () is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Connacht. Gaeltacht regions in Connacht are found in Counties Mayo (notably Tourmakeady, Achill Island and Erris) and Galway (notably in parts of Connemara and o ...

from the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony of Aran i ...

who was very prominent in the Gaelic Revival in

, visited Milton, where he met a large number of Irish speakers. The dwindling of Irish immigration, the decay of the

aí in Ireland and the passing of earlier generations were accompanied by a loss of the language. Interest is maintained among an activist minority.

Argentina

Between 40,000 and 45,000 Irish emigrants went to

in the 19th century. Of these, only about 20,000 settled in the country, the remainder returning to Ireland or re-emigrating to North America, Australia and other destinations. Of the 20,000 that remained, between 10,000 and 15,000 left no descendants or lost any link they had to the local Irish community. The nucleus of the Irish-Argentine community therefore consisted of only four to five thousand settlers. Many came from a quadrangle on the Longford/

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

border, its perimeter marked by Athlone,

Edgeworthstown Edgeworthstown or Mostrim () is a small town in County Longford, Ireland. The town is in the east of the county, near the border with County Westmeath. Nearby towns are Longford 12 km to the west, Mullingar 26 km to the east, Athlone 4 ...

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeath ...

and Kilbeggan.Murray, 'The Irish Road to South America', p.1, from McKenna, Patrick (1992), 'Irish Migration to Argentina' in: O’Sullivan, Patrick (ed.) ''The Irish World Wide: History, Heritage, Identity'', Vol. 1, London and Washington: Leicester University Press. It has been estimated that 43.35% of emigrants were from Westmeath, 14.57% from Longford and 15.51% from Wexford. Such migrants tended to be younger sons and daughters of the larger tenant farmers and leaseholders, but labourers also came, their fares paid by sheep-farmers seeking skilled shepherds. Irish census figures for the 19th century give an indication of the percentage of Irish speakers in the areas in question. Allowing for underestimation, it is clear that most immigrants would have been English speakers. Census figures for Westmeath, a major source of Argentinian immigrants, show the following percentages of Irish speakers: 17% in the period 1831–41, 12% in 1841–51, and 8% in 1851–61. In the 1920s, there came a new wave of immigrants from Ireland, most being educated urban professionals who included a high proportion of Protestants. It is unlikely that there were many Irish speakers among them. The persistence of an interest in Irish is indicated by the fact that the

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

branch of the Gaelic League was founded as early as 1899. It continued to be active for several decades thereafter, but evidence is lacking for organised attempts at language maintenance into the present day, though the Fahy Club in Buenos Aires continues to host Irish classes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Language Outside Ireland American literature in the Irish language Irish language Irish diaspora Diaspora languages Irish language outside Ireland Immigrant languages of the United States