''An Chéad Chathlán Coisithe'', the First Infantry Battalion in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

, is a battalion of the

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing bran ...

that was historically

Irish-speaking 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 ...

History

The battalion was originally founded in the

Curragh Camp The Curragh Camp ( ga, Campa an Churraigh) is an army base and military college in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces and is home to 2,000 military personnel ...

in June 1924, before transferring to the Hibernian Schools in the

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tr ...

and taking possession of

Renmore Barracks Renmore Barracks ( ga, Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa) is a military installation in Renmore, Ireland History The barracks were built by Colleran Brothers, a Dublin-based contractor, and completed in 1881. Their creation took place as part of the Cardwe ...

in Galway in April 1925. In this period, the battalion comprised approximately personnel, drawn mainly 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 recog ...

areas of Connemara, Munster and Donegal. Following the declaration of The Emergency in 1939, the battalion was deployed to positions in eastern Galway with the primary task of defending Rineanna Airfield from attack. In January 1943, the unit assisted Lt-General

Jacob L. Devers Jacob Loucks Devers (; 8 September 1887 – 15 October 1979) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the 6th Army Group in the European Theater during World War II. He was involved in the development and adoption of numerous w ...

(whose aircraft had crashed near Athenry) and escorted him to a US base in Northern Ireland. In 1945, the battalion returned to Renmore Barracks. However, from the 1950s the number of eligible recruits declined to heavy emigration from the west of Ireland. By the 1970s, recruitment was confined to Connemara and by the 1980s less than a quarter of the battalion were native speakers. The battalion was committed to internal security duties at this time. Troops from the battalion also supported several United Nations peacekeeping missions, suffering a number of casualties during the 1980s.

References

{{reflist Battalions of Ireland Irish language organisations