Is Monaghan the most ‘Irish’ town in Ireland? (outside the Gaeltacht)

Could the town possibly claim to be the ‘most Irish’ town in the country outside of Gaeltacht areas? We put the question to people in Monaghan.

Seán Ó Murchadha is chairperson of Muineachán le Gaeilge, the local branch (craobh) of Conradh na Gaeilge in Monaghan Town. He says: “Monaghan is up there. We have the highest percentage of pupils attending Gaelscoileanna in the town. We have three youth clubs, lots of ‘ciorcal comhrá’ and lots of events.

“As a result of the all-Irish schools, I’m able to go up the town and obtain service ‘as Gaeilge’ in many places. There are young people now who have grown up with Irish and started their own businesses and I can avail of service ‘as Gaeilge’ from them.“We have an Irish language speaking community in Monaghan, an Irish language network, and you wouldn’t be reluctant to speak to someone in Irish as there’s every chance you’d get an answer back in Irish. It’s fantastic.”

Minister for Social Protection, Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, a Monaghan native herself, believes that “there are numerous signs and evidence” to show that the Irish language is growing in Monaghan.

She pointed to the work of Muineachán le Gaeilge and the “high demand” for Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcoláistí. She noted that Gaelscoil Ultain had to add on two new rooms to their school, such was the demand for places.

“I do believe County Monaghan is doing a better job than other counties to promote the language and increase the number of Irish speakers and long may it continue,” added the Minister.

Her belief seems to be borne by evidence published on the Irish-language news site Tuairisc.ie stating that Monaghan was the best county for education through Irish.

Out on the streets, I asked people, firstly, if they agreed that Monaghan was the most ‘Irish’ town in Ireland outside of the Gaeltacht and, secondly, if they thought the Irish language was alive and well locally.

Robert Henderson, a supervisor in Wilson’s Menswear, laughed at the first question and said “probably not”. However, like many who replied “no” to the first question, he believes the language is flourishing, partly because of the number of Irish schools. Helen Scott from Clontibrett also felt the language is “coming back” because of the presence of the Gaelscoileanna.

Noel Harraghy of Wineways off licence agrees that the language is alive and well and sometimes comes across people in a local leisure centre speaking Irish – though he feels it can be a kind of “exclusion” as well.

Hilda McManus, a primary school teacher and a member of the Muineachán le Gaeilge committee, says: “Monaghan is probably the most Irish town in Ireland, but there’s still a lot of progress still to be made.”

Eimear Ó Murchadha, another primary school teacher from Monaghan (living in Dublin) isn’t sure if it is the “most Irish” town, but the language is “very strong” and it is obvious that people have a real interest, particularly the young. “They are positive about it and happy to speak it,” she says.

Seamus MacAdam is the owner of Missy A’s Café, which hosts a weekly ‘ciorcal comhrá’ group, and he sees “a big revival around here.”

The Bee Healthy food shop is another place to practise your cupla focail – three of the shop assistants speak Irish, including a lady from South Africa, and they promote an Irish speaking day on Saturdays. Shop assistant Charlotte Batsaikhan says: “Customers will actually come out of their way to come in and speak Irish.”

The most unequivocally positive responses to the question of whether or not Monaghan was the most Irish town in the country came from young people.

Cathal McEnaney (28) works in The Western Arms and he says a lot of the staff working in the hotel attended the local all-Irish secondary school and are fluent.

Orla Corrigan (19) works in the same hotel. We chat ‘as Gaeilge’ and she tells me that Monaghan is “definitely” the most Irish town in Ireland and that when she’s working on a Sunday, “you’d always have a couple of people saying something in Irish…even just ‘Go raibh maith agat’”.