(
English: "The
Gaeltacht
A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.
The districts were first officially recognised ...
Civil Rights Movement") or (
English: Irish Language Civil Rights Committee"),
was a pressure group campaigning for
social, economic and cultural rights
Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) are socio-economic human rights, such as the right to education, right to housing, right to an adequate standard of living, right to health, victims' rights and the right to science and culture. Econo ...
for native-speakers of Irish living in Gaeltacht areas. It was founded in
Connemara
Connemara ( ; ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, 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, ...
in 1969 to highlight the decline of the Irish language and to campaign for greater rights for Irish speaking areas in the area of access to services, broadcasting and ultimately an elected assembly of their own. It was later named Gluaiseacht na Gaeltachta (
English: "The
Gaeltacht
A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.
The districts were first officially recognised ...
Movement").
History
The organisation continued on where the earlier
Muintir na Gaeltachta had left off, but also took inspiration from the contemporary
Northern Ireland civil rights movement
The Northern Ireland civil rights movement dates to the early 1960s, when a number of initiatives emerged in Northern Ireland which challenged the inequality and discrimination against ethnic Irish Catholics that was perpetrated by the Ulster Pr ...
and the
American civil rights movement. Among the founders of the organisation were the writer
MáirtÃn Ó Cadhain
MáirtÃn Ó Cadhain (; 20 January 1906 – 18 October 1970) was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novel , ÓCadhain played a key role in reintroducing modernist literatur ...
and the community and political activists
Seósamh Ó Cuaig and
Seán Ó Cionnaith.
The
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
and
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
under the leadership of
Cathal Goulding
Cathal Goulding (; 2 January 1923 – 26 December 1998) was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Official IRA.
Early life and career
One of seven children born on East Arran Street in north Dublin to an Irish republican f ...
and
Tomás Mac Giolla played a role in establishment of as part of its policy of the Reconquest of Ireland following on the teachings of
James Connolly
James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...
, who believed that the
Irish people
The Irish ( or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common ancestry, history and Culture of Ireland, culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has be ...
required both political and cultural
decolonisation
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...
.
The campaign was often of a militant nature, such as the placing of nails under the wheels of the car carrying the
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Jack Lynch in
Galway West during the
1969 general election campaign.
In that election a member of the campaign,
Peadar Mac An Iomaire polled more than 6% of the vote in that constituency.
The campaign had some successes, including the establishment of a nationwide Irish-language radio station
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (; "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is an Irish language radio station owned and operated by Raidió TeilifÃs Éireann (RTÉ). The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the inter ...
based in Connemara and of
Údarás na Gaeltachta
Údarás na Gaeltachta (; meaning "Gaeltacht Authority"), abbreviated UnaG, is a regional state agency which is responsible for the economic, social and cultural development of Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht) regions of Ireland. Its stated purpose i ...
— an elected body responsible for the economic and social development of the Gaeltacht regions but with far less power than envisaged by Gluaiseacht. Three Gluaiseacht candidates stood unsuccessfully in Connemara in the 1979 Údarás election.
Gluaiseacht persuaded
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 emer ...
to hold
Oireachtas na Gaeilge
Oireachtas na Gaeilge (, "The Irish (language) Gathering") is an annual arts festival of Irish culture, which has run since the 1890s. Inspired by the Welsh eisteddfodau, the festival has included different events connected with Irish langua ...
outside Dublin in 1974,
and secured recognition of
sean-nós dance
dance ( ; , ) is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance. It is a casual dance form, as opposed to the more formal and competition-oriented form of Irish stepdance.
in Irish means 'old style', and is applied to the dance form as w ...
in 1977.
See also
*
Desmond Fennell
Desmond Carolan Fennell (29 June 1929 – 16 July 2021) was an Irish writer, essayist, cultural philosopher, and linguist. Throughout his career, Fennell repeatedly departed from prevailing norms. In the 1950s and early 1960s, with his extensi ...
References
Sources
*
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Citations
External links
Ceart Teanga na Gaeltachta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gluaiseacht Cearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta
Political advocacy groups in the Republic of Ireland
Organizations established in 1969
Irish language activists