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New Communities Day is being celebrated today as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia

The day's events will include sean-nós dance workshops with renowned dancer Sibéal Davitt

Today is New Communities Day as part of the Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia festival, which celebrates the Irish language. It concludes a series of workshops run by Conradh na Gaeilge as part of Céad Míle Fáilte, a project promoting the Irish language within new communities. This year different groups from all over the country were selected to participate in this pilot project.

As part of the project three workshops are being held with each group involved. These include an awareness workshop on the Irish language, a workshop on multilingualism and the series will conclude with a sean-nós dance workshop with the well-known dancer Sibéal Davitt.

The multilingual workshop is given by Dr. Francesca la Morgia, Director of the Mother Tongues organisation, who are also a branch of Conradh na Gaeilge. 

Dr. Francesca la Morgia, Director of Mother Tongues says: 

"I am delighted to be involved in this celebration of the Irish Language for Lá na bPobal Nua. We as an organisation engage with families that are raising their children in their own native languages from all over the world, and including Irish here in Ireland. The message from Mother Tongues is that bilingualism is an advantage to families and that everyone's native language is a benefit to the development of our children."

Hafi Saad, facilitator with the Syrian community in Downpatrick says:

“The Syrian families here, both young and old, are very much enjoying learning Irish and about Irish culture. This is their home now and they are delighted being part of the community here and experiencing every aspect of the culture here. I want to thank everyone who have assisted us up to now, especially Conradh na Gaeilge. The County Down Rural Community Network and Cumann Gaelach Leath Chathail.”

Seán Ó Murchadha, Awareness Campaign and Multimedia Executive with Conradh na Gaeilge states:

“Everyone should have the opportunity to experience and enjoy the Irish Language. The language has an important role assisting our New Communities integrating into Irish society. These workshops are part of that integration process and we very much wish to build on the success of the workshops into the future.”

The festival has been organised by Conradh na Gaeilge since 1902 and we are most grateful for the support the festival receives from Foras na Gaeilge and Energia. This Céad Míle Fáilte project for Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia has been partly supported by the Department of Justice and Equality in the south and the Department of Communities in the north. 

 

 

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.