Welcome Address
Professor Regina Uí Chollatáin
Cathaoirleach Fhoras na Gaeilge
Regina Uí Chollatáin is the Principal and Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. She is the Senior Professor of Modern Irish and is the Director of the Academic Series for the Ad Astra Academy Dublin City University. She was Head of Irish School, Celtic Studies and DCU Language (2008-2019). She is a member of the Steering Group of the National Centre of Excellence as part of the government’s proposal for Advanced Language Skills. She was appointed Chairperson of Foras na Gaeilge in 2021. She was a member of the Irish National Folklore Council and the Advisory Academic Board of the Irish Literature Museum. From 2008 she is a founding member and was the Chairperson of the Irish Newspaper and Periodical Forum between 2016 and 2019 and was a member of the first TG4 State Board (2007-2012). Revival, journalism, Irish media and print culture are Regina’s main research areas with national and international publications. Her current research is Women and the Irish Academic Tradition and a monograph entitled ‘Revival of community and language: The Irish Media’. She has a BEd from Our Lady of Mercy College as well as an MA (Research) and PhD from Maynooth University. (2007-2012).
Keynote Speaker: Day 1
Professor Emeritus Dónall P. Ó Baoill
Queen’s University Belfast
Dónall P. Ó Baoill is a native speaker of Irish from Donegal. He graduated from University College Galway with a BA honours degree in Irish and Mathematics and a Higher Diploma in Education. He studied linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was awarded an MA and PhD. He was a researcher in the Linguistics Institute of Ireland 1974–1999 and was appointed Professor of Irish and Head of Irish and Celtic Studies at Queen’s University Belfast 1999–2011. He has published widely in different fields covering such areas as the teaching and learning of Irish, descriptions of Modern Irish dialects, phonology and syntax, language planning and standardisation, bilingualism, language contact, Irish-English, Irish Sign Language, Travellers’ Cant, linguistic typology in the languages of Europe, Irish folklore and on various topics within the field of theoretical and applied linguistics. He has edited various publications, Teanga, The Journal of Celtic Linguistics, Scáthlán and Language and Politics.
Panel 1: Technology and Business
Chairperson: Rónán Mac Con Iomaire
Director of Regional Development, Community & Language Planning, Údarás na Gaeltachta
Rónán Mac Con Iomaire is Director of Regional, Community & Language Development for Údarás na Gaeltachta, responsible for language planning, community development and micro-enterprise, among other areas. Previously, he was RTÉ’s Group Head of Irish Language and Deputy Head of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. He has a background in media and entrepreneurship. His third book, about the Gaeltacht Civil Rights Movement, will be published before the end of year.
Dr Jeremy Evas, Welsh Governement
Head of Prosiect 2050
Jeremy Evas is Head of Prosiect 2050 at the Welsh Government. Prior to this, he was Head of Welsh Language Promotion and Behaviour Change at the Welsh Government and a lecturer in language policy and planning at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University. He was also Director of Strategy at the Welsh Language Commissioner, and Director of Policy and Corpus Planning at the former Welsh Language Board.
His main interests lie in finding and activating behavioural triggers for increasing the use of Welsh. He has supervised doctoral theses on translation automation, and behavioural psychology as applied to human computer interaction in bilinguals, and to choice architecture of Welsh-medium services/education. He has also published research on the factors that affect the intergenerational transmission of Welsh. At the Welsh Government, he is responsible for programmes to increase the informal use of the Welsh language in school age children, Welsh language transmission and use in families, Welsh language technology, the Welsh language in the private sector and aspects of Welsh as a language of work. He implements the Leading in a Bilingual Country leadership programme with Academi Wales and facilitates at Academi Wales’ summer and winter schools. Outside work, he’s normally to be found on his bike.
He’s a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Member of the Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters, a Chartered Linguist, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
Diarmuid Ó Mathúna
Owner, POTA Café
Diarmuid is from Cork originally but is living in Conamara now where he has been running the POTA Café for 3 years now. After gaining a degree in Communications from Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge (Academy of Irish Language University Education) he started to work in television, radio and marketing before he turned to professional cooking. He was professionally trained in a famous cookery school, Ballymaloe, and since then he has been ploughing the furrow in that sector. Since he opened POTA in 2021 it has been chosen as the best café on the island of Ireland, and they have been awarded many other prizes as well.
Eoin Ó Droighneáin
Principal Officer, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Eoin Ó Droighneáin is from An Spidéal in the Gaeltacht area of Galway, and has been working in the Gaeltacht Division in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media since 2022, responsible for Irish Language Support Schemes, the Placenames Branch and National Language Strategies. Some of the activities under his control are the Implementation of the Digital Plan for Irish and the Strategy for the Language Based Irish Language Arts. Before this, Eoin spent more than 20 years in the University of Galway in charge of the Translation and Interpreting Unit there.
Panel 2: Adult Learners and New Speakers
Chairperson: Deirdre Ní Loingsigh
Director of Irish, Irish Language Centre, University of Limerick
Deirdre is involved in innovations and projects related to the promotion of the Irish language and language support for adult learners. She often draws on her background in physical education, adult education, and participatory research in this work. She lectures on the Diploma in Applied Irish programme and the Professional Master of Education (Languages). She developed a new Micro-Credential programme called ‘Language Coaching in the Workplace’ last year. She is a UNESCO Knowledge for Change (K4C) mentor with UL Engage and she is currently supervising four doctoral students working in the field of the Psychology of Language Learning.
Professor Maite Puigdevall Serralvo
Department of Arts and Humanities, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona
Dr. Maite Puigdevall Serralvo (Banyoles, Catalonia, 1972) graduated in Philosophy and Letters (section of Catalan Philology) in the University of Girona (UdG), Catalonia in 1995. She gained a Masters in Welsh Ethnological Studies at Cardiff University (Wales) in 1997 and Doctor of Philosophy, also in Cardiff University (2006).
Since January 2008, she is an associate professor of Catalan Language and literature in the Department of Arts and Humanities at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia) in Barcelona.
The primary area of her professional and academic interest has always been the normalisation of the Catalan language. She has been combining research and teaching with constant contact with different stakeholders in language planning and policy in Catalonia both at the grassroots and government level, and with the transfer of sociolinguistic knowledge to these groups. The main subject of her research focuses on advancing the understanding of the “new speaker” subject of minority languages, especially in the Catalan context where she has been researching this topic for more than 10 years.
Dr Cóilín Flynn
Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Centre for Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College Dublin
Dr Colin Flynn is an assistant professor of Applied Linguistics in the Centre for Language and Communication Studies at Trinity College Dublin. His research concerns bilingualism and adult language learners. His publications include two books: Second Language Learning: Methods and Tasks in the Classroom (CIC, 2021) and Adult Minority Language Learning: Motivation, Identity and Target Variety (Multilingual-Matters, 2020).
Connlaith Ní Raifeartaigh
Manager of Céad Míle Fáilte, Conradh na Gaeilge
Connlaith is an Irish speaker from Belfast, with more than 10 years of experience in various roles focused on community development, in both the Irish language and English language sectors. She has a background in youth development, working with Fóram na nÓg to increase Irish-medium youth provision in the north of Ireland. She spent a period of time in Australia, where she gained experience of working closely with minority communities and promoting inclusion and antiracisim, especially among the Aboriginal communities. Now as she manages a new Conradh na Gaeilge scheme, Céad Míle Fáilte, she is encouraging Ireland’s new communities to interact with the Irish language and Irish culture.
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Panel 3: Implementation of Language Planning, Monitoring, Awareness and Research
Chairperson: Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin
Language Planning Coordinator, Fís an Phobail
Chairperson of the Meitheal Náisiúnta Pleanála Teanga
Ciarán was born and reared in Belfast, where he received an education through the medium of Irish, first at Bunscoil Phobal Feirste and afterwards at Meánscoil Feirste (Coláiste Feirste). Ciarán spent some time teaching in Belfast Irish-medium schools and working with various language groups in the city. He spent 5 years working as Advocacy Manager with Conradh na Gaeilge when they opened an office in Belfast and is a spokesperson and is still an active member of the Dream Dearg. Recently Ciarán has been appointed as Language Planning Coordinator with Fís an Phobail in West Belfast. On a personal basis, Ciarán was involved in the foundation of several language projects in the north, including Fóram na nÓg (Youth Forum), Glór na Móna and the Laochra Loch Lao Gaelic games club. He is also chairperson of Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh.
Dr Imanol Larrea-Mendizabal
Soziolinguistika Klusterra, Tír na mBascach
Imanol Larrea-Mendizabal is director of the Soziolinguistika Klusterra, research centre of the Basque Country on sociolinguistics for the revitalization of the Basque language. With a degree in Sociology and a PhD in Communication, he has worked in the areas of immigration and minority languages, linguistic attitudes, Catalan sociolinguistics, the promotion of Basque in the socio-economic sphere and the management of R&D&I (Research, Development and Innovation).
Joe Ó Dochartaigh
Language Planning Officer, Carntogher Community Association
Joe Ó Dochartaigh is from Carntogher, south County Derry, and he has been working for 14 years in the Irish language sector after spending years as an electrician. He spent 10 of those years as youth officer in Carn Tóchair, focusing on strengthening and developing the community. Joe is now employed by Carntogher Community Association as Language Planning Officer with the Carntogher Network.
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Aoife Ní Chonghaile
Language Planning Officer, Bearna & Cnoc na Cathrach
She was reared in a Gaeltacht area in Conamara, and she had an idea since she was a teenager that she would like to be working with the Irish language and in the preservation of Irish. After she gained her degree in the Arts (Irish and Translation Studies), she gained a scholarship in Údarás na Gaetachta in the language planning department. She spent two and a half years working there and gaining a MA in Language Planning at the same time. She got a job there as Language Planning Officer in the Loughrea Irish language network, where she remained for over a year. In April 2023, she got a job as Language Planning Officer in the Bearna & Cnoc na Cathrach language planning area, and she is there still.
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Panel 4: The Role of the State and Public Services
Chairperson: Dr Fionnbarra Ó Brolcháin
Former professor, UCD and Maynooth University.
Former Finance professor in DCU, where he was a founding director of the Irish Language Centre, Fiontar. He was a visiting professor in Michigan University in America, Aalto University in Finland and quite a few others. He has written or co-written several books, including Meon Gaelach, Aigne Nuálaíoch and Capitalising on Culture, Competing on Difference. He has a degree in Electric Engineering from University College, Cork, and has a PhD in international Finance from Stern Business School, New York University (NYU).
Sadhbh Ó Cinnseala
Principal Officer, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Sadhbh Ó Cinnseala is head of the Unit of Official Languages in the Public Sector and has specific responsibility there for ensuring the implementation and full embedding of the Official Languages Act 2003-2021 across the state system.
Sadhbh’s family are from Dublin but, with a particular commitment to the Irish language, they made the journey west to the Conamara Gaeltacht in Galway when Sadhbh was a young child. Since then Sadhbh’s life has been devoted to the Irish language in Irish-medium education, obtaining an MA in Conference Interpreting with Irish and spending a time in Údarás na Gaeltachta dealing with ICT through Irish. She started with the Department in 2016 then as an executive officer and ever since has had the opportunity to deal with a wide range of subjects in several different divisions.
Sadhbha is excited to spread the word about what is to come with the Official Languages Act (2003-2021) in coming times, especially as regards the employment opportunities for those with Irish in the context of the government’s goal that at least 20% of recruits to the public sector will be competent in Irish by the end of 2030.
Hannah Ní Dhoimhín
Manager, Dréimire
Hannah is a language planning advisor and accredited translator.
Before she started to work with Dréimire, Hanna spent years dealing with language planning in Ireland, working with Gaeltacht communities and outside of the Gaeltacht preparing language plans. She often gives academic and public talks on the theory and practice of language planning.
Her publications include:
• Plean Teanga Ghaoth Dobhair, Anagaire, Rann na Feirste agus Loch an Iúir, 2016
• Plean Teanga Ghaeltacht na Mí, 2018
• Aithníonn an Fhuil a Chéile, a translation of ‘Not Just for Christmas’ by Roddy Doyle, 2023
Hannah has a BA in Irish and French and a MA in Language Studies, with a specialism in Language Planning, as well as the Foras na Gaeilge Seal of Accreditation for Translators, and a qualification in Language Coaching in the Work Place. She has a particular interest in language acquisition and the intergenerational transmission of minority languages especially.
Séamas Ó Concheanainn
The Language Commissioner, Office of the Language Commissioner
The President of Ireland, Mícheál D. Ó hUigínn, appointed Séamas Ó Concheanainn as Language Commissioner in December 2023. He has extensive experience in senior leadership roles in various sectors in the last 20 years: language legislation, higher education, language planning and community development. Séamas was appointed as Director of the Office of the Language Commissioner in 2020. He had various senior posts in the Irish Language University Education Academy. Séamas has a particular interest in community development and has spend different periods of time over the years working voluntarily with a wide range of community organisations and committees.
Panel 5: Family, Youth and the Irish Language in the Home
Marcas Mac Ruairí
Development Manager, Glór na nGael
Marcas Mac Ruairí is the Glór na nGael manager of the Teanga Tí (home language) department, which deals with the development of Irish in the family.
He has an MA degree in Modern Irish from Ulster University and a diploma in Language Planning from the University of Ireland, Galway.
He is a former board member of Foras na Gaeilge. He is chairperson of Naíscoil Dhún Pádraig in County Down, where he assisted with the establishment of the local Irish-medium nursery school.
He worked as a journalist with local newspapers in County Down, as well as a period with the Irish language newspaper Lá. He has published several books, including An Buntáiste Breise, The Extra Advantage: A Handbook for Irish Speaking Families.
He prepared an expert report on the implementation of the European Charter for Minority and Regional Languages.
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Sorcha Ní Chéilleachair
Head of Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta (Gaeltacht parents)
Sorcha is originally from Rinn Ó gCuanach in the Decies but she has been living in Conamara for some years. Sorcha was one of the founders of Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta and she has been head of the organisation from the year 2018. She is a former primary school teacher and vice principal and she spent years as a programme controller with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. She is also a sean-nós singer and is very interested in cultural and Gaeltacht matters.
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Orliath Mhic Leannáin
Director, Fóram nan Óg
Orliath Mhic Leannáin was born and reared with Irish in West Belfast.
Her interest in youth work was nurtured when she worked voluntarily from the age of 14 years. She got her first job in the youth sector while doing a degree in Youth Work in Ulster University in 2006. She started her journey in Irish language youth work in 2009. She worked with Glór na Móna as City Youth Coordinator. In that role she was building the Irish language youth sector in Belfast, through training, curriculum, lobbying and providing support to community groups.
She has been working as Director of Fóram na nÓg since 2021. They have a great team which constantly inspire her, by working with them building and strengthening Irish language youth work in the north.
She places a great emphasis on native youth work practice, and a model put together for Irish language youth work, to provide adequate support to their member groups, which envisages that there will be open spaces for young people and to nurture new leaders, who will be able to take ownership of the revival campaigns locally in the language development communities in the north.
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Dr Stiofán Seoighe
Dúiche Sheoigheach and Tuar Mhic Éadaigh Language Planning Officer
Stiofán is from Galway and he is working as a Language Planning Officer in the Dúiche Sheoigheach and Tuar Mhic Éadaigh Language Planning Area from May 2020. He gained a doctorate in Modern Irish from Galway University in 2019. His sociolinguistics thesis was on new speakers of Irish and Basque. He was one of the founders of Gaeil na Gaillimhe CLG, a club which operates through the medium of Irish in Galway City, and he is still an active member.
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Keynote Speaker: Day 2
Chairperson: Dr John Walsh
Corporate Planning Programme Manager, Foras na Gaeilge
Dr John Walsh is the Corporate Planning Programme Mananger in Foras na Gaeilge. Before coming to Foras na Gaeilge, he was an Associate Professor with Irish in NUI Galway, where he taught sociolinguistics, media studies and the Irish language for 18 years. Before that, he worked as a lecturer in Dublin City University, as an editor with the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages in Brussels and as a journalist with Irish and English with TG4, RTÉ and with local radio.
Dr Laoise Ní Dhúda
Language Planning Officer, Gaeilge Iorrais
Laoise Ní Dhúda received her university education at the University of Galway, BA (2003), MA (2004) and PhD (2010). Her first book entitled Roghanna: Lámhleabhar Eolais faoin bPleanáil Teanga was published in 2014. She spent periods working in the Department of Irish (University of Galway) and the Academy of Irish-Language University Education on the diploma course in Language Planning and the MA in Language Studies. She has years of experience working with youth and among the community in the Gaeltacht. She wrote the Language Plan for North Mayo (2018). She started working as a Language Planning Officer with Gaeilge Iorrais in 2019.
