Hanafin faces row over new English directive

(Dec 31, 2007)http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hanafin-faces-row-over-new-english-directive-1255211.html
"Education Minister Mary Hanafin is on a collision course with Irish-language schools as they step up their campaign for the option of teaching completely through Irish for a child's first year in school."

Camp proved to be an education

(Dec 31, 2007)
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/2007/12/31/camp-proved-to-be-an-education-91466-20297906/
"A programme about Frongoch – the prison camp in North Wales where about 1,800 Irish rebels were interned in 1916 – will be broadcast on ITV1 Wales in the new year....Inside the former German prisoner of war camp the Irish language was forbidden."

Your Irish phrase, an 8ú lá 'is fiche Mí na Nollag

cé go.../cé nach... -- although... / although...not...
(followed by a verb, in dependent form if it has one)

Language sparks debate in Kerry

(Dec 27, 2007)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7162108.stm
"The status of the Irish language in Northern Ireland has prompted bitter debate in the assembly after Culture Minister Edwin Poots said he would not introduce an Irish Language Act. But in one of the few remaining Irish-speaking areas in Ireland, there's another debate, this time demanding that more English and less Irish be spoken in a new secondary school in Dingle."

Glór Cheatharlach picks up €183,350

(Dec 19, 2007) (yes, ages ago -- sorry!)
http://www.carlowpeople.ie/news/gloacuter-cheatharlach-picks-up-183350-1251888.html
"There is much rejoicing amongst Irish language enthusiasts in Carlow following the announcement by Foras na Gaeilge that Carlow is to be one of the centres to benefit under Scéim Phobail Gaeilge 2008-2010."

Post-rush posts

Now that finals and the holiday time-drain is over, perhaps I can get back on track a bit. I'll start with some Language Log posts I recently found while catching up on the reading backlog, that are about (or touch on) the topic of a certain file-under-wishful-thinking book on English slang:
The bunkum of "The Bunkum of Bunkum"?
Gullibility in high places
Victims and etymology
(If these entries upset you, please please please ask yourself why. If your answer is "because I want what the book says to be true," or some version of that notion...well, I can only appeal to your sense of reason.)

Nollaig Shona Clis!

Wes's Words

dreige noun f3
- meteor
mar shampla...
Bíonn dreige sa spás fós, ach nuair a thitfeadh sí go talamh, ba dhreigít í mar sin.
A meteor is still in space, but when it falls to earth, then it's called a meteorite.

Concern at 'racism' in GAA

(Dec 20, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/concern-at-racism-in-gaa-1250794.html
"Youngsters playing Gaelic games are being derided and 'slagged off' for speaking Irish while on the pitch."

Breathnach performs resignation u-turn

(Dec 19, 2007)
http://www.setantasports.com/en/Sport/News/Other-sports/2007/12/19/GAA-Breathnach-performs-resignation-u-turn/?facets/sport-space/great-britain-locale/
“Veteran broadcaster Sean Ban Breathnach has rescinded his decision to resign as Cultural and Irish officer of the Galway county board.”
also see:
Sean Ban does U-turn over Galway job (Dec 19, 2007)
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/story.asp?j=36509256&p=365x9363&t=gaa
“Veteran Irish language broadcaster, Sean Ban Breathnach, has decided not to quit his position as Cultural and Irish Officer of the Galway County Board.”

Irish row school can't give names to minister

(Dec 18, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/irish-row-school-cant-give--names-to-minister-1249418.html
"Education Minister Mary Hanafin can't contact parents to find out if they want their children taught through Irish only -- because of the Data Protection Act."

Former IRA prisoner gets seat on language board

(Dec 19, 2007)http://www.independent.ie/national-news/former-ira-prisoner-gets-seat-on-language-board-1250207.html
“The former Republican prisoner who became the ‘face of the IRA’ in 2005 has been appointed to a State board.”

EU to recruit Irish-speaking lawyers

(Dec 15, 2007)
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1215/breaking19.htm
"The European Union has launched a new recruitment drive for lawyers fluent in the Irish language. Fluent Irish-speakers with legal training were encouraged to apply before January 9th for vacancies in EU institutions in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg."

Review: Siren's call

(Dec 15, 2007)
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/poetry/0,,2227854,00.html
"The Fifty Minute Mermaid is the most recent dual-language collection by Irish poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill."

Grá mór saying 'I Do' as Gaeilge

(Dec 15, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/graacute-moacuter-saying--i-do-as-gaeilge-1248240.html
"The winds danced a jig yesterday in the most westerly parish in Europe, when RTE newsreader Siun Nic Gearailt married TG4 reporter Ailbhe O Monachain."

Newgrange sunrise set to go global

Nothing to do with the Irish language, really, but I can't help myself:
Newgrange sunrise set to go global (Dec 14, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/newgrange-sunrise-set-to-go-global-1246434.html
"The winter solstice event at Newgrange is going global for the first time this year."

No Irish greeting on Aer Lingus to Belfast?

Cead mile failte Kate! (Dec 14, 2007)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7145268.stm
"The December edition of Let's Talk was dominated by the politics of sport and Irish language."

SF plea for Irish speakers in North

(Dec 13, 2007)
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1213/breaking58.htm
"The Government must protect the rights of Irish speakers in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams urged today.
"Mr Adams today met Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv in Dublin to push for the enactment of an Irish Language Act in the Stormont Assembly."

Review: Translator's nightmare, this 'Táin' is a dream

(Dec 12, 2007)
http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-rutten12dec12,0,4115908.story?coll=cl-books-util
"Within the West's small but precious hoard of archaic literary epics, 'The Táin' is surely the most complex and least known outside its native Ireland."

Cutbacks threat to Irish language schools

(Dec 10, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/cutbacks-threat-to-irish-language-schools-1242076.html
"A serious threat has emerged to the future of Gaelscoileanna which are among the most successful second level schools in the country.
"The Irish Independent has learned that the Department of Education and Science Building Unit has proposed that no new second level Gaelscoilenna be built."

Determination is key to Gaelscoil student success

(Dec 10, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/determination-is-key-to-gaelscoil-student-success-1242168.html
"The principal of one of the most successful Gaelscoileanna in the country claims one of the reasons his school sends so many pupils on to third level education is commitment from parents, teachers and pupils."

Letters: Lip service can't save Irish

(Dec 9, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/lip-service-cant-save-irish-1241705.html
"Sir -- The Irish State since its foundation has presided over the virtual annihilation of the Irish language, a feat never achieved in history despite hundreds of years of repression and occupation including Cromwell and the Penal Laws."

Green light for Irish language signs

(Dec 7, 2007)
http://www.ballymoneytimes.co.uk/news/Green-light-for-Irish-language.3567593.jp
“History was made in Ballymoney Council on Monday night when the Unionist-controlled local authority agreed to erect bilingual signs in Irish in parts of the borough.”

'Kings' On General Release In Northern Ireland

(Dec 7, 2007)
http://www.4rfv.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=69475
"Ireland's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (Oscars) has gone on general release this weekend."
Also:
Kings ransom as acclaimed Irish film is released
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/article3231468.ece

Nuacht move to Connemara

(Dec 6, 2007)
http://www.galwaynews.ie/2147-nuacht-move-connemara
"RTÉ’s Irish language television news service is to be located to the TG4 studio headquarters in the Connemara Gaeltacht with an investment programme of over €2m in new technology."

Letters: Irish important in the courts

(Dec 6, 2007)http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/irish-important-in-the-courts-1239259.html
"It seems a pity that barristers and solicitors will not require any Irish in the future."

Waterford Television Company punches above its weight in National competition

(Dec 5, 2007)
http://www.waterford-today.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1719&Itemid=10087&ed=140
"Nemeton Television has just won two awards in the prestigious Gradaim Gnó na Gaeltachta. The event aims to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the Gaeltacht."

Colleges drop language requirement for science

(Dec 5, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/colleges-drop-language-requirement-for-science-1238357.html
"Students will find it easier to get into science courses after two universities yesterday revealed they are to drop the entry requirement for a third modern language, such as French or German.
"However applicants will still need English and Irish to get into science -- any move to drop the Irish language requirement would meet with fierce resistance."

Opinion: What Cromwell couldn't kill, we will

(Dec 2, 2007)
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/what-cromwell-couldnt-kill-we-will-1234600.html
"More savage than the famine and more merciless than Oliver Cromwell, the persistent neglect of the Irish language by successive governments may be about to achieve what these two scourges tried but failed to do: The effective death of Irish as a living language."