{"id":75910,"date":"2025-09-20T21:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T21:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/75910\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T21:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T21:11:09","slug":"thousands-march-in-dublin-to-demand-greater-irish-language-rights-and-help-for-gaeltacht-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/75910\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands march in Dublin to demand greater Irish language rights and help for Gaeltacht \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of protesters marched through Dublin city centre on Saturday demanding urgent political intervention to protect the Irish language<\/a> and Gaeltacht<\/a> regions. <\/p>\n

Organisers estimated 25,000 people took part in the demonstration, billed CEARTA: The National Protest for the Irish Language and the Gaeltacht. <\/p>\n

Traffic was brought to a standstill as demonstrators wound their way from the Garden of Remembrance, through the city centre, at one point stretching the length of O\u2019Connell Street, before rallying at the Leinster House end of Molesworth Street. <\/p>\n

The protest was organised by a coalition of language rights groups and community organisations to highlight what they said were systemic issues facing Irish speakers and that endangered the viability of Gaeltacht regions. They also demanded action on language, housing, education and funding.<\/p>\n

Addressing the crowd, Ciar\u00e1n Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in, president of Conradh na Gaeilge, and spokesman for protest group An Dream Dearg, described the protest as \u201chistoric\u201d and said \u201cfor hundreds of years we have been fighting for recognition, for dignity and respect for our language in our own country\u201d. <\/p>\n

Commending the progress made to advance the Welsh language in Wales, where the authorities have set a target of creating one million Welsh speakers by 2050, Mr Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in asked why the Irish government did not follow their example. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t our Government in Dublin do the same thing? Why is Irish still in the ha\u2019penny place when we\u2019re told that the State has more money than ever before,\u201d he said in Irish. <\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters were angry at what they said was declining financial support for the Irish language. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

He said funding cuts had led to community groups \u201cmaking difficult decisions every single day about cutting back community schemes, closing offices and letting staff go\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mr Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in said: \u201cIt\u2019s a disgrace that the Irish language budget through Foras na Gaeilge<\/a> is down 45 per cent since 2004. It\u2019s a disgrace that the state in the south spends 0.1 per cent on Irish and the state in the North spends 0.02 per cent [of its budget]. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat shows the importance they place on our native language.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the upcoming budget, \u201cdecided by the people who sit behind us here in Leinster House, is another litmus test for their sincerity around the language\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter successive cuts and decimated services … we need investment not more words.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in was critical of those who \u201cnever miss a chance to express their \u201cgr\u00e1\u201d for Irish yet \u201cconsistently miss every single opportunity to support it with action and funding\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters also voiced support for Palestine <\/p>\n

Commending the community-led nature of Irish language campaigning in the north, Mr Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in said \u201cin a state that once banned Irish, we now have an Irish language commissioner\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my own city, where activists were arrested for erecting bilingual signs, we now a transformative dual-language policy, reclaiming our native tongue, street by street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe achieved that together by standing together and raising our voices.\u201d <\/p>\n

Many in the crowd carried flags and banners in support of Palestine and Mr Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in condemned \u201cthe genocide in Gaza<\/a> as a stain on humanity\u201d and expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He also condemned the far-right movement and those \u201cwho make friends with fascists across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

To cheers, he said: \u201cWe say to our newcomer communities, \u2018C\u00e9ad m\u00edle f\u00e1ilte romhaimh go l\u00e9ir\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future we envisage for the language is an inclusive one, one that stands against far-right extremism and fascism.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOur language activism is rooted in internationalism and solidarity not intolerance and hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heulyn Rees, chief executive of Cardiff-based Welsh language advocacy group Menter Caerdydd, expressed solidarity with Irish speakers and spoke about the Welsh experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in Cardiff in the 1980s, the city only had one Welsh language primary school and no secondary schools. Today, there are over 20 welsh language schools in Cardiff alone, with unprecedented demand for a fourth secondary school over the coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor any language to thrive, it must be supported, not just by words and gestures but through legislation, investment and meaningful opportunities to use the language. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Irish language, it\u2019s not a relic, it\u2019s not a museum piece to be kept behind glass, it is a living breathing soul of the people. It is the rhythm of your poetry, the fire in your protest and the lullaby in your cradle and it deserves not just respect but rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever whisper Irish. Shout it, teach it, demand it. Let it ring from Belfast to Derry, from Derry to Dublin. Let it be the voice of your future and not just your past.\u201d <\/p>\n

Other speakers, including Adhna N\u00ed Bhraon\u00e1in, from the Gaeltacht housing campaign group B\u00c1N\u00da, urged the Government to address the housing crisis in the Gaeltacht, the introduction of an Irish language curriculum suited to all and the delivery of equal language rights for Irish speakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of protesters marched through Dublin city centre on Saturday demanding urgent political intervention to protect the Irish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,51484,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-75910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-conradh-na-gaeilge","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}