This is a big, fat, substantial book of close on 800 pages of more than 52 essays on the history, present situation and prospects of the current geographical Gaeltacht. The essays were originally commissioned as a series of lectures on that great community cultural service and resource, Raidio na Gaeltachta. They have been repeated, which at least is a sign of their importance. Raidio na Gaeltachta repeats very little (unlike its visual counterparts, or indeed, mainstream RTE radio), and so we must suppose that these essays are at the very heart of what the station is about.
The shape of the book is very clear. Representatives from each Gaeltacht region - and these regions are divided up somewhat differently - were asked to talk about their community. Most of these took the shape of describing history and topograpy and folklore and literature, and the current state of the language. Those who wrote about the areas in which the language is really strong said less about history; and those who wrote about the areas in which the language had a tenuous in-growing toe-hold were rich and copious and wonderful about tradition. The more the reality the less the tradition, and vice versa.
But - reading between the cracks - the book is a very fine and well-written account of the state of the language in those communities for whom it remains the first and most important language. A politician might say, "Wide-ranging and comprehensive." One irony is, that those from the stronger Gaeltachtai seem more pessimistic than those from the weaker, for they expect more. And yet, for now, Gaoth Dobhair and surrounds is firm, according to Donall O Baoill (and I agree); Ceantar na nOilean is still a fiorGhaeltacht, but under great pressure; that whole straice from Galway west to the boats to Aran is largely Irish-speaking, but with a good deal of gaps and diglossia; isolated pockets in Munster hang on because they have defined themselves as Irish-speaking communities, rather than as just survivors on the edge of the world. West Galway has thousands of homesteads of speakers of Irish; ditto Donegal; west Kerry hundreds; Waterford much less; part of west Cork as little as 27; Fanaid maybe five.
It is not the business of the book to give any searching historical or sociological analysis. Its purpose is descriptive, and in this it succeeds magnificently. To go further is to invite the most awkward questions about colonialism, and the relationship between politics and the survival of languages. In this sense, the book is romantic, in one of the lesser meanings of this most meaningless word.
But those people who have visited Gaeltachtai or who come from them will find this work both enlightening and informative. After all, one of the main planks of the "Gaelic revival" was to give recognition and dignity to those to whom it was decisively denied for generations. The people of Ring in Co Waterford meant nothing to nobody until Conradh na Gaeilge arrived and taught them to read in their own tongue; Tuar Mhic Eadaigh was a backwater in the bowels of the hills and a byword for murder and mischief until their language was recognised with a new college; Achill was totally Irish-speaking until the GAA arrived (but there is no connection between one and the other).
The wealth of detail is wonderful, as Padraig O Coimin puts it into context in his introductory essay. But it is Gearoid O Tuathaigh who asks the hard questions at the end. He is pessimistically realistic and idealistically hopeful simultaneously and at the same time. There is no other way. He offers solutions and dumps the garbage. There are straightforward instrumentalist actions which can be done for the Gaeltacht now. But the Gaeltacht is also a part of the greater Irish polity and community. O Tuathaigh hints at a new definition of Gaeltacht, one which encompasses speakers of Irish everywhere, and one which is closer to the original meaning of that word. The conclusion may be that while we love our rural isolation and the homeliness of the sun going down over Galway Bay, the Gaeltacht must be seen both as a regional question and a national one - and that the national one must needs take first place in the class from now on. Great photos too.
Alan Titley is head of the Irish Department in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra. He is a scholar, a dramatist and a writer of stories
