Emmett McIntyre's blog

Multiple media outlets are reporting that the Cornwall Council has welcomed a Pan Celtic Proclamation (full text below) from the Welsh National Eisteddfod which condemns London’s decision to cut funding for the Cornish language.  This is an encouraging development of Pan Celtic cooperation in support of the Celtic tongue.

The Cambrian news are reporting that “The Welshest pub, Welshest shop and Welshest street in the world have now been officially identified, following a competition in which all the winners were nominated and voted by the public.”

The competition was sponsored by Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig, a civic group which gets it’s funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities Development Programme which in turn is sponsored by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

This year’s 12th Annual Irish Hooley Music Festival at the Dubuque Star Brewery and Alliant Amphitheater (always the fourth full weekend in August) kicks off at 4pm on Friday 26th of August with The Lads of Dubuque, the Led Farmers, and headliner band The High Kings.

The Gorsedh Kernow, an organisation with ancient roots which is a driving force in the protection and promotion of Celtic culture in Cornwall, have announced that a record 55 students have successfully completed the Cornish language examinations. The organization announced a 20% increase over 2015 which is an undeniable sign of the strengthening of the Celtic language revival in Cornwall.

Below is the text of the announcement from the Gorsedh Kernow web site (linked below) where also can be found the full list of this year’s successful candidates.

In a surprise announcement, Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones has called for the doubling of the number of Welsh speakers by the year 2050.  An ambitious goal given the governments on-going hesitation in introducing Welsh medium educational reforms.  The Welsh Government's Minister for the Welsh Language, Alun Davies, describes the statement by Jones as  "deliberately ambitious".  Plaid Cymru characterized the First Minister's statement as " another superficial stunt".

The notion of Welsh medium education enjoys wide support amongst the electorate in Wales. A poll released in late 2014 sponsored by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) showed 63% of the people surveyed agreed that schools “should teach all pupils to communicate effectively in Welsh” thus ensuring graduates enjoy a command of the Welsh tongue upon graduation.  Studies have shown that bilingually schooled students academically outperform monolingually schooled students.

According to the statistics published by the Welsh Government, the area covered by the local authority of Newport has a population of about 140,000 with 22%, or approximately 30,000 residents claiming fluency in the Celtic tongue. Newport is situated at the eastern edge of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area which has a total population exceeding 1.1 million.  

In the latest salvo in the battle between language activists and Dublin’s malevolent attitude towards Gaelic, Ireland’s President Michael Higgins has condemned the failure of the government to honor its responsibility to the Irish language.  In a recent address to a group of language activists in Dublin, Higgins is quoted questioning the goodwill of Government elites toward the Tongue.  Higgins lashed out at the Government for its failure to facilitate meeting increasing community demands for the establishment of Gaelic Medium Secondary schools, an issue that has surfaced in a number of com

The Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaelige) are the main voluntary community organisation that promotes the Irish language in Ireland and abroad, The Gaelic League’s main aim is to reinstate the Irish language as the common tongue of Ireland.  Since its founding in 1893, members have been actively promoting Irish in every aspect of life in Ireland, from legal and educational affairs to the development of media and services through Irish.  Members of the Gaelic League are in the forefront of campaigns to strengthen the rights of the Irish speaking community.

In January of this year Transceltic reported that the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) was calling for the members of the Welsh Assembly to use the Welsh Language in the conduct of their official duties.