The Irish language is a joy not a burden: in what other tongue is a penis a wild carrot? | Una Mullally

Record numbers of pupils are seeking opt-outs from compulsory learning. This is misguided – Irish is a portal to a world of imaginationAmid a boom in Irish culture across music, literature, film and fashion, the Irish language – Gaeilge – is also experiencing a revival. Once the majority’s native tongue, it was assailed and diminished as a daily, working, spoken language under British colonialism and became largely confined to rural west coast districts for much of the 20th century, kept alive by generations of families. But over recent decades the number of schools teaching the national curriculum exclusively through Irish has risen significantly, from fewer than 20 in the 1970s, to more than 200 today. The 2022 census showed a 6% increase in the number of people able to speak Irish compared with 2016. Irish is a core subject on the curriculum and compulsory in all schools.Yet in the academic year of 2024-25, a record number of pupils – 14% of the post-primary school population – were granted exemptions from studying Irish, a record number. This makes me sad for the young people who will miss out – not just on the growing professional opportunities it provides, but the richness of the language and the window into Irish culture it cracks open.Una Mullally is a columnist for the Irish Times Continue reading...

Comments

Opinions

Under Trump, America has the kind of leadership we in Britain desperately need

For all Blair's faults, he presided over growth Reeves would die for. So why won't she take his advice and lower the top rate of tax? STEPHEN GLOVER

ANDREW PIERCE: Is Labour donor shopping around for new leader?

Miranda Devine: Zohran Mamdani’s smiley meeting with terror-linked imam is just his latest full embrace of radical Islam

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews ITV1's Romesh Ranganathan's Parents' Evening: Good game? Brucie would never have gone near this boring show

NY ‘justice’ is now a revolving door for serial violent perps — and Zohran Mamdani will make it WORSE

Palling around with a ‘terror co-conspirator’ shows Zohran Mamdani thinks he just can’t lose

ALEX BRUMMER: Is Trump's show of force abuse of presidential powers?

Ignore progressives: Child-welfare probes work — saving kids

Mamdani is poison for Dems, Trump proves right on violence and other commentary

New Jersey’s last chance for change is on the campaign trail — as Scott Presler hopes to repeat his Pennsylvania success

Fillers are OUT. Here's what Australia's leading doctor told me the real secret is to an ageless face: POLISHED with Elise Wilson

Letters to the Editor: Most people who lose jobs through no fault of their own don't get $2-million payouts

Mamdani’s plan to strip the NYPD’s boss of disciplinary power would threaten public safety

Zohran’s dodgy mayoral debate: Letters to the Editor — Oct. 20, 2025

The shutdown proves it: We don’t need so much government after all

I don't care if it makes him happy. What my dad has asked me to do is deplorable: DEAR JANE

SARAH VINE: If we fall for Kim Kardashian's £34 dead rat it's proof we've really lost it

MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: The prince wriggled and squirmed... but a free and fearless Press would not let him off the hook

FLOURISHING AFTER 50: I'm 58 and just lost my job - I'm terrified no one will hire me again

Trump should box Putin in BEFORE any Budapest showdown

Mamdani’s pathetic plans for NYC schools prove he doesn’t really want to govern the city at all

My wife always swore she didn't masturbate. Then I caught her in the act doing something so shocking, I can barely look her in the eye: ASK JANA

'He'll never be PM': In unsparing detail, Cabinet sources tell PVO of Jim Chalmers' private humiliation over his super tax backdown, his denial until the last moment... and Albo's Shakespearean betrayal

ALEXANDRA SHULMAN'S NOTEBOOK: After cancer, Kate's house move really is a new start

DAN HODGES: This is who Cabinet ministers have told me is REALLY to blame for Labour's China crisis... and some Foreign Office officials are even calling her the 'Dragon Lady'

PETER HITCHENS: It's Left-wingers who should worship Maggie. She's no idol for REAL conservatives

KENNEDY: Here's the truth of weird drug-fueled orgies in Congress that Tucker Carlson is investigating... it makes me sick to my stomach

The war on pet stores and more: Letters to the Editor — Oct. 19, 2025

Letters to the Editor: Plan to prevent fires with fuel breaks is 'counterproductive and harmful'

BEL MOONEY: How can I stop family parading snaps of my kids online?

The day I dined with the Muhammad Ali of sumo wrestling - this is how the great champion feasted: JEFF POWELL

Dear Abby: I know my sister is stealing from me, but she won’t admit it

ALEX BRUMMER: I've just met the world's top financiers and they're terrified. A catastrophic crash that will destroy savings, prosperity and living standard is coming. Britain's in deep, deep trouble

'Insane, thoughtless and directionless. The Sussexes are spiralling': Insider's damning words to ALISON BOSHOFF on Meghan's latest reinvention as they reveal 'mess' - and her very surprising next move

International treasure hunt for Lady Gabriella husband's missing cash: RICHARD EDEN

QUENTIN LETTS: Fortune is turning against the silken, sinuous courtier blamed for the China spy scandal. So will Keir Starmer sever the suppurating limb that is National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell?

The Bill Belichick trainwreck just keeps getting worse, and we all know who’s pulling the levers

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: It took a long time coming, but Prince Andrew has finally done the right thing

Why John Bolton probably WON’T pay big if found guilty in his documents case

ALEX BRUMMER: Britain suffering inflation calamity

Game of thongs! My bizarre night with the sumo superfans by ROBERT HARDMAN

Winning World War III, ‘vision thing’ dooms Democrats and other commentary

Sick Young Republican group chat is part of the right’s new ‘vice signaling’ bonding ritual

Why Trump is succeeding in the Middle East where Biden and Obama failed

Mamdani’s debate lies, dodges and fumbles — signs of disaster ahead for NYC

The disastrous NYC mayoral debate: Letters to the Editor — Oct. 18, 2025

A key psychiatric group censored our doctors for seeking to discuss the harm of child sex changes

Dems’ biggest problem isn’t Mamdani and socialists — it’s the ‘moderates’ who cave to them

AMANDA PLATELL: Meghan's own goal of monumental stupidity is the kind only she is capable of making

Letters to the Editor: Ballot conspiracy claim is easily debunked, at least in L.A. County

BORIS JOHNSON: Britain is enduring a slow-motion catastrophe, as one set of tax rises triggers the next. There's only one solution

Hilaria Baldwin may be out of DWTS, but she’s still going for first place — in the self-pity Olympics

Celebrate with an “Ocean State of Mind” this festive season

Infographic: Moderna’s strategic partnership with the UK government

An investment in the future

We're local park volunteers but Castle Water has demanded a £5,479 bill: CRANE ON THE CASE

Mamdani suffers awful showing in NYC mayoral debate — but Cuomo still can’t bury him

RICHARD EDEN: Why Petra Ecclestone's husband is on HRT

JAN MOIR: How can soiled Prince Andrew live with himself? And the troubling question: What role did he play in Virginia's death?