Irish Language in Northern Ireland - History

History

As in other parts of Celtic Europe, Irish was the main language in the region of present-day Northern Ireland for most of its recorded history. The historic influence of the Irish language in Northern Ireland can be seen in many place names, for example the name of Belfast first appears in the year 668, and the Lagan even earlier. The Plantation of Ulster led to a decline in Gaelic culture, of which Irish was part - while some Scottish settlers were Gaelic speakers, English was made widespread by the plantation.

Intellectuals in Belfast took an antiquarian interest in Irish-language culture towards the end of the 18th century, and an Irish-language magazine Bolg an tSolair was published in 1795. The Ulster Gaelic Society was founded in 1830. Attitudes among the Presbyterian middle class, however, tended to change in the second half of the 19th century as the Gaelic Revival became associated with Irish nationalism. A branch of the Gaelic League was founded in Belfast in 1895 with a non-sectarian and widely-based membership, but the decline in Irish as a first language continued.

Irish was in sharp decline throughout the whole of Ireland from the mid-1800s. From the late 1600s and early 1700s, the Church of Ireland made some attempts to revive the declining Gaelic language. The church printed Bibles and Prayer Books in Gaelic, and some churches, and some Protestant clergymen like William King of Dublin, held services in the language. However, the English language had been the language of learning and the Roman Catholic Church continued to use Latin and English in its services. English was the language of the industrial east of the island, and Gaelic started to become confined to the more rural west.

By the 1860s, of all the Roman Catholic seminaries, only St Jarlath's in Tuam was teaching in Irish. The Roman Catholic Church had, at that time, desired to "stamp out any lingering, semi-pagan remnants", which included Gaelic language. Sir William Wilde in 1852 blamed the Catholic Church for the quick decline and was "shocked" by the decline of the language and Gaelic customs since the Famine.

The power of the English language, in business and learning throughout much of the world also influenced the decline of Gaelic in Ireland. A letter from Dennis Heraghty of Letterkenny in 1886 to the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language complained that the parents in his area all wanted their children to learn English. Bishop MacCormac of Achonry, also in 1886, suggested that "People are apathetic about the preservation of our ancient language" and, "They see that Shakespeare's tongue is the one in use in America and the Colonies."

Although there had been attempts and societies formed to reverse the declining trend for the language, it was not until the rise of the Gaelic League, founded in 1893, that any measure of success was achieved. By the 1851 census, only 23% of the population of Ireland still spoke Gaelic as a first language. Sir Douglas Hyde, in New York in 1905, said, "The Irish language, thank God, is neither Protestant nor Catholic, it is neither a Unionist nor a Separatist." By then, however, the language had begun to be politicised. The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland began to believe in the worth of the language and had begun to take steps to ensure its survival. Ironically, however, both the state and Church interference became something that Irish people began to resent. Protestants and Unionists alike began to back away from a Gaelic revival as, besides the dominant role of the Roman Catholic Church by then, Gaelic was starting to be described as a "race" and as a divisive element politically and culturally. Even so, in 1905 the Irish Unionist Party had a Gaelic slogan, which it proudly displayed at a convention.

Since 1921, the Irish language has been regarded with suspicion by many unionists in Northern Ireland, who have associated it with the Republic of Ireland and with Irish republicanism.

The Irish-language movement in Northern Ireland after 1921 responded to a lack of establishment support by pursuing a self-help social and recreational movement aimed at preserving Ulster Irish (an issue which had split the Belfast Gaelic League in 1911). By 1923, only one branch of the Gaelic League was left in operation in Northern Ireland, but from a handful of branches in 1926 the number of branches peaked at 182 in 1946. In contrast to the perception of the Irish Free State's policy of preserving areas of Irish-speaking countryside, activists in Northern Ireland concentrated on ensuring Irish could survive in urban contexts, organising trips to Irish-speaking areas to bolster urban enthusiasm. A co-operative housing scheme in Belfast aimed at creating an urban Gaeltacht opened in 1969 in Shaw's Road.

From the early years of the Northern Ireland government, education in Irish was marginalised. The number of primary schools teaching Irish was halved between 1924 and 1927, and numbers studying Irish as an extra subject fell from 5531 to 1290 between 1923 and 1926. The subsidy for Irish as an extra subject was abolished in 1934.

The Troubles exacerbated the politicisation of the Irish language in Northern Ireland. Many republicans in Northern Ireland, including Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, learned Irish while in prison.

The last speakers of varieties of Irish native to what is now Northern Ireland died in the 20th century. Irish as spoken in Counties Down and Fermanagh were the first to die out, but native speakers of varieties spoken in the Glens of Antrim and the Sperrin Mountains of County Tyrone and County Londonderry survived into the 1950s and 1970s respectively, whilst the Armagh dialect survived until the 1930s or '40s. Varieties of Irish indigenous to the territory of Northern Ireland finally became extinct as spoken languages when the last native speaker of Rathlin Irish died in 1985. Séamus Bhriain Mac Amhlaigh, who died in 1983, was reportedly the last native-speaker of Antrim Irish. A wealth of recordings and stories told by Mac Amhlaigh were recorded by researchers from Queen's University in Belfast.