People with a poor command of Irish often feel “shut out” of the language,  Ciara Kelly has said. 

The Newstalk Breakfast presenter described her own command of the language as “not good”. 

Despite this, Ciara said she has always retained an affection and respect for Gaeilge. 

“I’m not one of those people that goes, ‘Irish, I hate Irish’ - or any of those things,” she explained. 

“I actually wish I could speak Irish better; I wish it in a passive way, I’m not going to start doing Duolingo and going to the Gaeltacht. 

“I wish I had it.” 

A sign welcoming visitors to the Gaeltacht. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Like most Irish people, Ciara studied Irish in school - but quickly realised that she was simply much better at other subjects. 

“I feel a little resentful of how I was taught Irish,” she said. 

“I felt there was a gatekeeping that went on; there were those who were in the inner circle of gaeilgeoirs, that developed curriculums based on poetry and prose. 

“And people like me whose Irish wasn’t good enough - who found those things challenging because we weren’t very good at Irish - and were kind of shut out.” 

While she considers Irish a “beautiful thing”, Ciara said she finished her Leaving Cert able to speak better French than Gaeilge. 

“I don’t have it and I suspect there are tens of thousands of people of my generation who also were shut out of the language because we weren’t that good at it,” she said.  

“It wasn’t taught particularly well and that emphasis on the literature of it, I think kept us away from being able to speak it properly. 

“And I think that was an opportunity denied to many.” 

Irish language road signs in Galway. Picture by: The Irish Image Collection/Zuma Press/PA Images.

Fellow presenter Shane Coleman described himself as of the tír gan teanga, tír gan anam mindset. 

“I think it’s part of our heritage, it’s part of our culture,” he said. 

“I do think there is a group of young, cool, trendy people embracing the Irish language. 

“I think the view that Irish isn’t important is an old fashioned view.” 

For this, he credited people like Today FM’s Louise Cantillon and rappers Kneecap, who often sing in Irish. 

Main image: Ciara Kelly in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk