Interview by Emma van Oosterhout
What does promoting the Irish language on campus look like in practice, beyond just symbolic gestures?
“Honestly, as someone from Donegal, I’m very used to preferring practical things, over the abstract or theoretical. So quite frankly, it’s getting down and getting my hands dirty, both with the students and for the students.
“So it’s talking to people, it’s setting up actual events, and it’s just making things that make people happy”
How would you encourage engagement with Irish among students who may have little confidence or previous interest in the language?
“By specifying that it’s beginner friendly. Tá fhios agam na cainteóirí dúchasach, native speakers. It can sometimes be a bit intimidating to talk to people, and those people feel like they don’t have good enough Irish to be in those circles. And that’s something that I really want to break down, especially with, say, the Pop-Up Gaeltacht, with BotanySoc, in which the point was, níl sé chun gaeilge maith a labhairt, but it was to leave with at least one word of Irish that you could use, like, say, your favourite flower. Take daffodils, for example, lus an chromchinn, the herb of the bowed head, just stuff like that. You can look outside and see for yourself.”
What changes would you like to see in how the university supports Irish language services and visibility on campus?
“Transparency is a big one. Mothaíom nach bhfuil mórán eolas ar fáíl uaidh an ollscoil. Sometimes the university just completely ignores Irish. For such a bilingual campus, something that’s advertised a lot, they don’t do much, and what they do do is often overshadowed or under advertised. [The current Leas Uachtarán don Gaeilge], of course, has done wonderful work, but quite frankly, a lot of people I know haven’t heard of it. So getting on the student level is definitely a big thing for me. Also, the university, of course, said that they’d have 20% of the student body speaking Irish. That hasn’t happened, as such, there was a fine and now that’s less money going towards Irish speaking circles, which is just a recurring loop, so definitely making sure that the student body is educated and knows what the university has promised, what they have done and what they have also failed to do.”
Do you believe the university is doing enough to meet its obligations as the country’s only bilingual campus? And if not, how would you challenge that?
“Quite frankly, I think we could always be doing more. I think there’s no end to the work that can be done. It’s just a matter of ‘are the people who are passionate, getting the resources to do what they want to do?’ I don’t expect everything to change overnight. I don’t expect to wake up tomorrow morning and bí ag caint as Gaeilge gach lá, 24/7. But frankly, it’s the small things. Work every day to make tomorrow a better one. So yeah, that’s what I believe about the university.”
By the end of your term, what tangible difference should students notice regarding the status of Irish on campus?
“More random Irish words in sentences. For example, recently, I started a little ‘focal an lae’ [word of the day]. Often, I feel like all of the resources for people who are just getting into Irish are often targeted towards primary or secondary school students. And quite frankly, that can be a bit infantilising or demeaning. So I’m trying to make it so it’s stuff that you could use in your daily life, like yesterday’s was brónsies [sorry/soz]. I’ll give you a little sneak peak, today’s one’s going to be fuist or whisht [hush], depending on your dialect. So it’s just stuff that you could use in your day to day life that doesn’t stand up too much.”
