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Gaeilge BackgroundAn incidental result of my family history digging is that I appear to have struck the Irish language lode. My great grandfather and grandmother, Luke Reilly and Bridget Jordan, on my father's side, returned themselves in the 1901 census in Kiltimagh as being able to speak both Irish and English. They were both originally from Sligo; he was born in the 1820s and she in the 1830s. My great grandmother, on my mother's side, Mary Anne Conneely, born 1843 in Oughterard, Co. Galway, would imost likely have been a native Irish speaker. They seem to be the only Irish speakers among those of my direct ancestors that I have been able to identify so far. Self My own connections with the language came about purely by accident when Synge St. CBS wouldn't have me and Coláiste Mhuire gave me asylum. Others Jimmy, Máire and Michael The teachers: Maggie Carmel |