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An Comhrá Mór: First Mass Action Meeting (2017)


An Comhrá MórDate:     Saturday, 10 June 2017
Time:    11.00 until 16.00
Venue:  Wynns Hotel, 34-39 Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1
              Red Line Luas stop at the door

Programme

11.00   Welcome – tea and coffee
11.15   Introductions, aims & programme of the day
        – Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, Chairperson
11.20   Presentation on ongoing current campaigns & discussion
12.00   Workshops:

Recognising challenges - Ursula Ní Shabhaois
Using social media in campaigns - Tomaí Ó Conghaile
Main Message - John Ó Liodáin

12.40    Feedback from the workshops
13.00    Lunch
13.40    Guest Speaker
     – Traolach Ó Buachalla, television producer and a founder of the TáComhionannas campaign
        Feachtas um Chomhionannas Pósta: Ceachtanna le Foghlaim

14.00    Workshops:

Actions for the south - Paula Melvin
Actions for the north - Gráinne Ní Ghilín
Actions for the Gaeltacht - Sara Ní Chuireáin

14.40    Feedback
15.00    Agreed actions
15.30    Close

Chairperson

An Comhrá Mór | ProgrammeBláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, television and radio presenter from the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht, Co. Meath.

Workshop Facilitators

Ursula Ní Shabhaois, manager of Club Áras na nGael in Galway and blogger at Ag Smaoineamh Os Ard from Co. Armagh.
Tomaí Ó Conghaile, director of NÓS magazine, involved with Irish-language media, from Co. Armagh.
John Ó Liodáin, chairperson of Club Chonradh na Gaeilge in Dublin, from Co. Meath.

Paula Melvin, chairperson of Pobal 15 and awards administrator with the Fulbright Commission of Ireland, from Dublin.
Gráinne Ní Ghilín, journalist with An tUltach, active member of An Dream Dearg, from Belfast.
Sara Ní Chuireáin, Irish-language development officer in Lower Mourne in south Down, from the Gaoth Dobhair Gaeltacht, Co. Donegal.

Guest Speakers

Traolach Ó Buachalla, television producer and a founder of the #TáComhionannas campaign, from Dublin.

Background

When the 2011 Census in Wales showed a fall in the number of people who could speak Welsh, the Welsh Government launched a national conversation about the future of the language. This was an open forum called Iaith Fyw: Y Gynhadledd Fawr (A Living Language: The Big Conversation).

In Ireland, the latest results from the 2016 Census in the south have shown a decline in the number of Irish speakers for the first time since 1946. Inspired by Y Gynhadledd Fawr, An Comhrá Mór wants to kickstart Ireland’s own big conversation about the Irish language.

While An Comhrá Mór will act as a public forum for ideas and opinions, the ultimate aim of the meetings is to act on the thoughts put forward. Campaign-specific actions will be agreed at the meetings, especially as regards to attaining rights-based language legislation in the north, stronger legislation in the south, and funding for the Irish-language and Gaeltacht investment plan as agreed by 80 community groups.

The Next Steps Forward...

The first mass action meeting of An Comhrá Mór (as detailed above) took place in the capital on 10 June 2017, and the second mass action meeting will convene in Dublin on 23 September 2017. Action forums will be held in the Gaeltacht on 12 September 2017 as part of the same national conversation.

Conradh na Gaeilge

6 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2.
Phone: +353 (0) 1 475 7401, Fax: +353 (0) 1 475 7844, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.