Seachtain na Gaeilge is here and we’re celebrating all things Irish!
We got to sit down with TG4 presenter and Raidió na Gaeltachta presenter, Máire Treasa Ní Dhubhghaill. The Connemara native was raised as Gaeilge and is bringing up her two daughters in a bilingual household.
VIP Magazine caught up with her to chat about the resurgence of Irish and why being a Gaeilgoir is even cooler than ever!
Tell us about your relationship with Irish. You grew up speaking it, right?
I’ve always felt really lucky, because I was brought up with Irish, so it’s never something I’ve had to think about. I was born and raised in Connemara, and we always spoke Irish at home. My dad was brought up in Limerick City, and he wasn’t brought up with Irish, but he met my mam in college and when he came to visit my grandparents, who are no longer with us, in Connemara they asked him, “Do you want us to speak to you in English or through Irish?” They had very little English, but they were willing, and he’s like, “No, speak to me in Irish”. So he, Limerick City man, has Connemara Irish and couldn’t be more Connemara. So we were always brought up with Irish at home. It’s all we spoke at home, and it’s always been part of my life and part of my heritage, my culture, and as I said, I’ve been very lucky that it’s given me so many opportunities in my life.
You’re in radio now, but you didn’t start off there.
I trained as a primary school teacher in Mary I, and I spent a year teaching before I started presenting in TG4 in 2007. I was working with TG4 for years, and it gave me so many opportunities. It opened so many doors for me, and presenting, producing, you know, doing junkets and all of that. We always brought Irish into whatever we were doing. If it was on the red carpet and it was always something that grabbed people’s attention as well. Everyone has some kind of a draw with the language. They mightn’t have the same level, or mightn’t be as comfortable at speaking it as others, but yeah, I’ve loved every minute of the opportunities I’ve been given as Gaeilge.
What was the move to radio like?
I was working with TG4 for years, and last year I decided to try something new and I started working with Raidió na Gaeltachta, and I’m loving, the variety of shows I work on. Pé Scéal É is a new show, it’s an entertainment show aimed at 18 to 35 year olds, and it’s on every Friday. We meet so many young people from all around the country on the show, and it’s brilliant that we have this platform to showcase all the talent that we have here in Ireland as Gaeilge. We’ve had Gaeilgeorí based in Amsterdam, Australia, Dubai, all around the world. And I think when you’re abroad as well, you’re even more proud of having the language and using it, and we’re going to Belgium actually in May as well, and we’re going to do the show live from Belgium, and so we’ll have people who are living and working asGaeilge and who have created a community abroad.
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Pé Scéal É is very accessible because it talks about pop culture that young people would be interested in. Do you think it’s a good gateway into Irish?
Absolutely, yeah. Gaeilge, like every language, it’s all about communication, and grammar shouldn’t be a deterrent for speaking the language. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at it’s important that people speak what they have, and you’d be surprised how quickly you’d pick up a few more words or phrases. It’s all about practicing and giving it a go. Then I suppose listening to Pé Scéal É, listening to Raidió na Gaeiltachta, watching TG4, you ear becomes attuned to hearing the language being spoken. You know, listening to podcasts and all that, you become used to listening to the language outside of the education system.
Are more people making an effort to use Irish?
So many young people, and we see that with influencers online and all of that, everyone is making an effort. I think there is a resurgence at the moment, and it’s great that we’re giving a platform to young people from all over the country. They aren’t necessarily brought up with Irish and they all have varying levels of Irish, but that’s not what we’re focused on. We’re focused on them and their stories and whatever’s happening in the news. We’re just interested in the personalities, and it just happens to be as Gaeilge. But I do think that Gaeilge is having a resurgence over the past few years among younger people with the likes of Kneecap and An Cailín Ciúin, and so many Gaelgoirí online as well. It’s brilliant, and people are, and they should be really proud of our language. It belongs to all of us. We’re really happy with the show because a lot of people have said it to us that they’re hearing new voices who wouldn’t necessarily have been on the station before now. It’s just opening doors for a lot of people.
There seems to be a big resurgence around Gaeilge and Irish culture. It’s brilliant!
Exactly, exactly. You meet a lot of people who are saying, “Oh, I wish I tried more in school” or “I wish I did this or that,” but it’s never too late. It’s all about practice and you become attuned to hearing the language. When I was younger, I used to listen to French tapes when I was doing my Leaving Cert oral and I used to fall asleep with my Walkman listening to French in my ears. You just become accustomed to hearing the language and you mightn’t feel confident in speaking it yet, but you’re getting an understanding and that’s what language is there for, to communicate. I think once you feel comfortable, and listening more and more, then you might give it a go and throw in a couple of words. I think Irish speakers are very welcoming. My experience is anyway that if someone is making an effort, you want to help them along or you want to converse with them and you know make them feel comfortable. Because you know a lot of people would be nervous, “Oh god, I don’t want to speak to this fluent speaker because I’ll make a mistake” or whatever. But it’s not about that, it’s just about using the language, whatever level you’re at. People should be proud of our language. It belongs to all of us, it’s part of our identity. I think it’s one of the most important parts of who we are being Irish and it’s connected to our ancestors. It’s so beautiful and there are so many phrases in Irish that you wouldn’t have in other languages. I think we should all feel so lucky that we have it as part of our lives.
You have your little ones as well, is it a privilege to raise them through Irish?
I’ve always spoken Irish to them, but my husband’s from Limerick and he wasn’t brought up with Irish, so he speaks English to them and I speak English to him. But they flip over and back so easily. So the primary language in the home is Irish, but they have English. It’s not like I’m like, oh no, we can’t have this language in our house or whatever. I think it’s important that we speak English as well, you know? But they’re like sponges. They just picked it up. And because it’s what I’ve always spoken to them, it’s all they speak to me. I feel like I want to, but I need to give them the same opportunity that I had because I was just lucky to be born and bred with the language. It was given to me from, I never had to work at it. It was given to me as a small child growing up and it just became part of who I am. And it is so much a part of who I am. And now they have the same opportunity. And it’s beautiful because Irish is connected to so many branches of our culture, music, the arts, theatre, media. We are on the shoulders of giants. And it’s beautiful to have that connection. It’s so powerful. There’s so much history belonging to the language. It’s great. Aela, my eldest, she was at Oireachtas na Samhna for the past two years saying poems and singing songs. She’s already feeling confident enough to go up on stage and perform. She won a medal last year, and the excitement, It just opened the door to this amazing world of richness and culture and community. I love the word pobal. There are so many communities of Irish speakers and Irish people abroad, I think, and they have this pobal, they have this community. And we want to tap into some of that on Pé Scéal É as well, the diaspora abroad. That’s why we’re going to Belgium, because there are so many people working and speaking the language in their daily lives, raising their children through Irish and all of that. And it’s beautiful. Aela and Luisne run rings around us both. They’d be correcting [my husband] John if he’d be reading stories to them in Irish. [Laughs]
You mention luck and how lucky you are to have Irish. But everyone can speak it, right?
I’ve had this conversation with so many people. It was geography, really. I suppose if I was born outside of the Gaeltacht I wouldn’t have it. I can’t imagine myself not having the language, you know, it’s who I am. When you aren’t raised through a language, you have to work at it. I know I keep saying this, but I do feel really lucky that it was just, that I was given this gift as a child, and we all were, and it’s just part of who we are.
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What advice would you give people who want to use their cúpla focal more regularly?
It’s all about practice and just giving it a go and I would recommend listening, you know, hearing the language being spoken, hearing the different dialects, listening to podcasts as Gaeilge, watch TG4, obviously the Pé Scéal É. I’m right in the middle of this, but you become used to listening to the language outside of being taught in school. You start listening because you’re engaged in the subject matter, you’re engaged in what you’re watching, you’re engaged in the conversations and the stories and the laughter and you forget that you’re listening to a different language. You just become used to hearing it and then just use the very little that you have to start off with and build from there. You don’t have to know everything or know the syntax or all the rules that belong to the language, don’t think about it like that. Just think of it as a way to communicate with somebody, to ask for something as Gaeilge. Use one word a day or one phrase a day and build on that, if it’s a go raibh maith agat, if it’s slán, Little things like that and then just build on that, but I would recommend listening and just so that you become more confident in hearing the language and, engaging with it then by beginning to incorporate the words that you’re hearing into your everyday life.
You really can learn from podcasts, radio and telly!
I know, but the amount of people who’ve come up to me, like I presented Rugbaí Beo on TG4 for 19 years just up until last August. But the amount of people that would come up to me and be like I love watching the rugby as Gaeilge, I love these phrases, I love this, I love that, but they’re watching, not to learn, they’re watching because they want to see the game. They’re supporting their team or whatever, they’re interested in what’s happening, but they’re just learning a few words, a few phrases because they’re hearing them regularly, Then slowly but surely, they’re understanding it, and then they feel more confident to use the words that they’ve heard.
Pé Scéal É airs every Friday between 3pm and 5pm on Raidió na Gaeltachta
