Tomas MAC Siomoin

The Gael Becomes Irish Tomas MAC Siomoin

In this companion volume of his "The Broken Harp", Tomás Mac Síomóin explains the reasons for the rapidly diminishing importance of Gaelic and the Gaeltacht in contemporary Irish life where international considerations increasingly determine our national cultural parameters. He also explains how Official Standard Irish came to be a repository of archaic forms of the language - and why such archaism is foisted on learners who resent it. He describes a simpler modernised Irish, based on current Gaeltacht speech, would better serve their purpose. Or, he asks, has colonialism sunk such deep roots in the Irish psyche that a need to restore our original language and culture no longer has relevancy for citizens of this Anglophone nation, Ireland?