Provost's Welcome

A chairde,

The promotion of the Irish language is a central part of College life, and this is duly recognised in the College’s Strategic Plan, Irish Language Policy and its successive Language Schemes.

Our Discipline of Irish makes an important contribution to the study and understanding of the language’s rich heritage. I commend also the excellent work done by the Centre for Communication and Language Studies (CLCS), notably in the development of abair.ie, the pioneering text-to-voice synthesis technology in various dialects of Irish.

The Irish Language Office, along with Coiste na Gaeilge, is central in ensuring support for many cultural, educational and social activities throughout the year, and ensures Trinity is to the forefront in creative collaborations both internally with College departments and offices, and externally with civic and cultural bodies.

The student society, An Cumann Gaelach, are very active and dynamic, they have been awarded the prestigious Glór na nGael award for best Irish language student society in the country on eight occasions since 2012, as well as a number of other awards.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful facility in the centre of campus, Seomra na Gaeilge, a dedicated conversation room for the College community. This space has been a tremendous success to date, and we recently celebreated 10 years since the room opened in 2012. It is used by many students and staff throughout the year and many cultural and social events are hosted there.

Our Irish Language Residency Schemes have enjoyed continued success and have carved out cultural ambassadorship roles for participating students. Our range of free Irish classes provide a gateway for staff and students of varying nationalities to an important dimension of Irish culture.

Trinity College takes great pride in its contribution over the centuries to the welfare of the Irish language. Numbered among our distinguished contributors are William Bedell, (who was responsible for the first translation of the Old Testament into Irish), Douglas Hyde (founder of the Gaelic League) and Máirtín Ó Cadhain ( Professor in the Department of Irish).

I encourage you to participate and enjoy as many as you can of Trinity’s various opportunities and services with the Irish language.

Le gach dea-ghuí,
Linda Doyle
Provost