The Galway City Council held its second-ever, full plenary meeting in Irish this week, and the standard of the cúpla focail has noticeably improved since Seachtain na Gaeilge 2025.
Last month, city councillors were sent to spend two days over the border, in County Galway, to Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta, in the South Conamara Gaeltacht, and their immersion in spoken Irish clearly paid off, with “the amadán from the Advertiser” forced to rely on a translation service to report.
There was much back slapping for Councillor Eddie Hoare (FG ) – knuckling down to weekly Irish grinds for the past year, and even applause for Councillor Helen Ogbu (Lab ) – famously hailing from a non-Gaeltacht area of Nigeria – after she submitted the annual report of the Local Community Development Committee she chairs, in Irish.
The tone in the chamber of City Hall changed abruptly, however, when meeting administrator Ailish Rohan – a noted Gaeilgeoir on the College Road campus – announced she would play a short video which officials had recorded of the councillors’ trip to Irish College last month.
This unexpected development elicited consternation from Councillor Frank Fahy (FG ): “But I thought what happens in an Cheathrú Rua stays in an Cheathrú Rua!” he exclaimed, to much nodding and winking between councillors, in a moment of cross-party frivolity.
Fahy, from Menlo, in the Bruach Thoir Gaeltacht area of Galway city, which includes Terryland, Coolagh, Ballindooley, Ballinfoyle, Parkmore and parts of Castlegar, is one of the strongest native Irish speakers in City Hall, alongside Achill Islander, Councillor Eibhlín Seoighthe (Ind ), who grew up in an Irish-speaking house, and finished school in An Spidéal.
Councillor Donal Lyons (Ind ), Ardrí Chnoc na Cathrach, and Councillor Terry O’Flaherty (Ind ) Banríon na Rinne Móire, both put in solid efforts, while schoolteacher, Councillor Alan Curran (SD ), is well able to use his Irish, even for technical matters.
Councillor Peter Keane (FF ) has excellent Irish, and he chaired the March meeting after doing a fine job of it last year as former Méara Chathair na Gaillimhe. Current mayor, Mike Cubbard (Ind ), is away gallivanting in Seattle and Boston on behalf of the city for St Patrick’s Day, while Deputy Mayor Alan Cheevers (FF ) was as láthair tinn.
“We are a bilingual city, and we should be very proud of that,” said Keane, in comments echoed by the city manager, Clareman Leonard Cleary, who even lilted a few lines of poetry in his Munster Irish, but diplomatically deployed words from the wandering bard, Antoine Ó Raifteirí, who is of course claimed by Craughwell.
Cleary pointed out that signs at the city limits are now in Irish, and that a new Irish Language panel for recruitment was open, and a full interpretation service is on the way.
Marcus Ó Conaire, Galway city’s Irish Language Officer, confirmed the council will update all Irish language road signage, and that all departments in City Hall have obligations under the 2003 Official Languages Act, with a target of 20 per cent of staff to be bilingual by 2030. He said the local authority has a good chance of being the first public body to achieve this goal.
“The aim of bilingualism is a sham though, if resources are not assigned to it,” he warned.
Galway city boasts a significant number Irish speakers, with 32,708 people recorded in the 2022 Census as capable in Irish. Many might choose to engage with their local authority in Irish, as well as English, say officials.
Funded by the CnM Local Democracy reporting scheme.
