A very special gathering took place at the Menlo Park Hotel in Galway City recently when people from two adjoining Gaeltacht areas to the north and east of the city gathered to honour their native Irish speakers.

The party was timed to coincide with the completion of a twelve-month project to record the native speakers of Gaeltacht an Eachréidh – Claregalway, Carnmore and Annaghdown – and An Bruach Thoir – Caisleáin Ghearr and Menlo – on camera.

Over a five-month period last winter, the Irish language planners recorded the mostly elderly native speakers in their own homes to capture the unique Irish of the area on camera for future generations.

Among those at the party at the Menlo Park Hotel were lifelong Annaghdown friends Tom Concannon (97) and John Murphy (96), who were among the first to be interviewed for the Native Speakers Project.

Others such as Mary Potter (Annaghdown) and Mary King (Claregalway) spoke of the joy they had experienced in reconnecting with their native language, after telling stories of childhoods spent speaking Irish in areas just outside the city where the language is no longer as strong as it was up to the 1970s and 1980s.

From December 2023 to April of this year, student Alanagh Ní Chonghaile Ní Ghríofa travelled to meet and record the native Irish speakers in their homes, as part of a project which was jointly coordiated by Irish Language Planning Officers Ciaran Tierney and Micheal MacAoidh.

The videos have now been edited by Tuam native Conor O’Donnell and will soon be available to view online. A “showreel” featuring snippets of the 20 interviews was screened on a big screen at the Menlo Park Hotel.

Musical entertainment on the night was provided by children from Annaghdown National School and Ceoltóirí Oga Cois Fharraige.

Ciarán also hosted a panel discussion about the unique Irish of these two adjoining areas and the importance of preserving our native language.

“We were overwhelmed by the ‘fáilte’ the native speakers gave us when we went to visit their homes,” said Ciarán Tierney, the Oifigeach Pleanála Teanga of Gaeltacht an Eachréidh.

“Everyone who took part in this project was happy to share stories with us and Alanagh had the perfect personality for carrying out the interviews.

“They some brilliant stories for us which we have now captured on camera, including feeding elephants on the Headford Road as they made their way on foot to the circus in Galway, a particularly ‘cross’ priest in Claregalway who used to read out how much money each family donated to the parish, and tales of smuggling poitin across the River Corrib under the noses of the Gardai!”

The videos will be uploaded to YouTube in the coming weeks by the language planning officers and Ciarán says they hope to stage an exhibition at some stage next year, after receiving such a positive reaction from the capacity crowd at the Menlo Park Hotel on Friday night week last.

Pictured: The native speakers enjoying their celebratory night at the Menlo Park Hotel. Photo: Sean Lydon