Cad é mar atá an saol agaibh, a chairde? How's life treating yous, folks? "Tá saol an mhadaidh bháin againne" we have the life of Reilly. "Bhí mé féin agus Gina ar shiúl ag an deireadh seachtaine", myself and Gina were away at the weekend. We were at an event called a "Slógadh". A "slógadh" is a big gathering of people, and a "slógadh polaitiúil" could be a mass rally. Mass rallies are hard things to organise these days, many of them end up damp squibs. I always think it is strange that Daniel O Connell, "An Fuascailteoir" the Great Liberator, could get more people to turn up for a mass rally when a horse was a luxury than we can in this age of "carranna, busanna, traenacha, eitleáin, téacsanna, gutháin, suímh idirlín agus plódú nuachta" cars, buses, trains, planes, texts, emails, phones, websites, and media saturation.
SLóGADH SHINN FéIN
But anyway, I digress; the event we were at was not a mass rally, but "Slógadh Shinn Féin", the annual Sinn Féin Irish language weekend of events, where everything takes place in Irish. "Bhí sé ar siúl i mBinn Éadair", it took place in Howth outside Dublin, where Erskine Childers landed a boatload of guns and ammunition in 1914 for Óglaigh na hÉireann, for the Irish Volunteers. The Slógadh is a mixture of the serious and the social, where I try to minimise the serious and maximise the social!
"Bhí scaifte maith daoine i láthair ag an Slógadh", there was a good crowd present at the Slógadh, which was in the Deer Park Hotel. "Casadh roinnt seanchairde as an Cheis Fhada orm", I met some old friends from Long Kesh. "Bhí cuid de na bodaigh mhóra i láthair", some of the big names were there.
"Bhí muid mall, mar is gnáth", we were late, as usual. "Nuair a bhain muid an seomra amach", when we arrived in our room, we looked across and saw that the discussion on "Gaelú Shinn Féin" had already begun. Gaelú Shinn Féin, which means the Gaelicisation of Sinn Féin, is about the party's efforts to promote the use of Irish among the membership, "ag cruinnithe", at meetings, "ar fhoilseacháin", on publications, "ag imeachtaí poiblí", at public events etc. We did manage to get straight down to this discussion, which was very interesting. Some excellent proposals were made "maidir le ranganna a eagrú" in relation to organising classes, "tuilleadh daoine a mhealladh" getting more people involved, "trealamh aistriúcháin a úsáid ag cruinnithe áirithe" using translation equipment at certain meetings etc.
NARROW POLITICAL REASONS
I got the feeling that now the dust had settled from two tough elections and an energy-sapping debate on policing, that the party was returning to pick up the issue of the language. One thing was absolutely clear to me, there was no talk here of using the language for narrow political reasons, just a genuine interest in getting the party to use more Irish and attract more people to our national language.
"An oíche sin bhí seisiún ceoil againn". That night we had a trad session. "Bhí píobaire uilleann den chéad scoth i láthair", there was a first class uilleann piper playing. "Oíche Dé Sathairn bhí buíon ceoltóirí áitiúla istigh againn", on the second night we had a group of local musicians from the Dublin area, some excellent young fiddlers and concertina players among others. "Tá an t-ádh againne ar an Srath Bán", we in Strabane are actually very fortunate. I do notice that in other sessions the musicians can be separate from the company, either playing in the background or playing to a hushed audience. Our sessions in Strabane are unique, as audience and players are all one, with people coming in and out regardless of level of skill, and layers and layers of people gathered around a few core musicians. There is no clear line separating musicians from others, and everyone is a participant. "Thug mé mo bhosca ceoil liom", I brought my wee button-key accordian with me, "agus bhuail mé cúpla port", and played a couple of tunes, welcome or not!
"Bhí trí dhíospóireacht thromchúiseacha maidin Dé Sathairn", Saturday morning saw three very heavy debates, "Seirbhísí Sláinte sna Sé Chontae is Fiche agus Ag Cosaint Seirbhísí Poiblí" Health Services in the 26 Counties and Defending Public Services, "An Tumoideachas" Irish-medium education, "agus Acht na Gaeilge" and an update on the situation around the Irish Language Act in the 6 Counties. "Ina dhiaidh sin, chuaigh muid fá choinne tae agus ceapairí in ionad sóisialta de chuid Chumann Lúthchleas Gael", after that we went for tea and sandwiches in a local GAA club, "agus comórtas Poc Fada", and a Poc Fada competition. No trophy for Strabane folks, "bhí mo dhroim briste", my back was broke this weekend.
HIGHLIGHT
The highlight of the weekend was definitely the "turas bus" bus tour. "Thug muid cuairt ar an ché", we visited the harbour, to the memorial plaque where Erskine Childers made his landing all those years ago. The only sign of anything coming in from foreign shores these days was a guy playing a saxophone with a moneybox in front of him, and with Conor Cruise and Gay Byrne living nearby I'd say if the folks on the Asgard landed today they'd be arrested before they touched shore. We were told about "Cloch an Diabhail", the Devil's Stone in the sea nearby. Apparently the Devil used to stand there and laugh at and mock "na manaigh" the monks on the nearby island called Ireland's Eye. The monks got a bit annoyed with this carry on "agus chaith duine acu bíobla leis an diabhal" and one of them clodded a bible at the devil and hit him on the head with it and turned him to stone. At this point it's probably time for another Irish phrase, "ná creid leath dá gcluin tú" don't believe half of what you hear.
"Chuaigh muid ag snámh roimh an dinnéar", we went for a swim before dinner, "agus chaith tamall sa teach allais", and spent a bit of time in the sauna. After dinner we were given what I can only describe as an inspirational talk by a small frail man in his later years. That man was Micheál Ó Seighin, one of the Ros Dumhach 5 who were imprisoned for refusing to let the oil company Shell build a gas pipeline through their lands in County Mayo. Micheál talked nothing of his imprisonment, but enlightened the whole audience with a different perspective on the whole question of the proper use of Irish resources for the Irish people and questions of democracy and civil rights.
MAIDIN Dé DOMHNAIGH
"Maidin Dé Domhnaigh", on Sunday morning, we attended a rememberance ceremony at the grave of local republican Pearse McLoughlin. "Chuala muid Mary Lou McDonald ag tabhairt a céad óráid phoiblí i nGaeilge", we heard Mary Lou give her first public oration in Irish. "Thug bean óg as Ógra Shinn Féin óráid i nGaeilge chomh maith", a young woman called Áine from Ógra Shinn Féin also gave an oration in Irish. "Agus d'fhág muid uilig slán ag a chéile", and we all said our goodbyes at the graveside, "go dtí an bhliain seo chugainn", until next year, "le cuidiú Dé", hopefully. "Ach idir seo agus sin", but in the meantime, we have Oireachtas na Gaeilge in Maigh Eo next week! As I said, "tá saol an mhadaidh bháin againn".
