The Fire in the West
The education of the Irish-speaking child is, as we wrote last week, the most sacred and important care that falls on Ireland to-day. True, our hopes of an Irish-speaking nation in this land do not entirely rest on the few score thousand children who speak Irish as their vernacular; for we believe it to be possible to impart during his school course such a knowledge of Irish to an English-speaking child as will place him for all practical purposes on an equality in the matters of blas, idiom, and fluency with the child whose lips have never known any language but Irish.
We say "for all practical purposes" : for there will probably remain nooks and crannies of Irish thought, by-ways of Irish tradition, feeling, and imagination, which will never be trodden by any — save, per-chance, by some strangely-gifted and miraculous Irish Coacience "Hibernior Hibernicis ipsis" — who have not trodden them since first their minds began to move down the ways of thought and fancy.
It is this fact that makes the Irish-speaking child so supremely important to the movement. In him the tradition of Irishism has never been snapped. We have only to educate him and to place him on an equal footing with the giants of the Gaelic past and with the mightiest of present-day Europe. We have only to educate him and we set him free to strive with the Alcuins and the Fearghais and the Ceitinns, with the Ibsens and the Tolstois and the Jokais.
"Why," we are sometimes pettishly asked, "has not the Irish language movement thrown up a literary figure of European importance?" There are many reasons: one, perhaps, is that the movement does not yet possess a single writer — nay, that there does not exist a single human being — who has received, from the start, and in the widest and truest sense; an Irish education. In certain lonely places of Ireland there burns — now smouldering low — a fire which, if we collect its seeds, and carefully tend and replenish it, will one day illumine the world.
That fire is to be found within the ring of Ciarraidhe's hills, and by misty lake-shores in Iar-Chonnaelita, and deep in hidden glens of Tir Chonaill. It burns in the hearts of little children who prattle around their mother's knees, or, bare-footed, walk the roads to "National" Schools or climb the mountains to herd kine and sheep. A holy fire it is and a wondrous: the holiest and the most wondrous thing in Ireland, if we except Ireland's serenity of faith and Ireland's purity of heart — to which things, indeed, this is mysteriously akin.
The mightiest and cruellest civilisation in the world has for a full century exerted itself to quench that sacred flame, but without avail. Will the watchers by its hearthstone — the parent, the teacher, the priest — quench it now, or, joining in a hallowed fellowship of protection, carefully nurse and foster it until it flames up, an amazing and beautiful thing, to shine like a never-setting sun beside the Western Sea?
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An Interview with Patrick Quinlan from the National Party
Welcome to another in our series of interviews with prominent figures and rising stars in contemporary Irish nationalism!
Today we're talking to Patrick Quinlan from the National Party, a rapidly growing and influential political organisation in Ireland, one of the few if not the only such group with actual elected representatives. Read on to learn about engaging with the system, winning hearts and minds, and the political future for Irish nationalism!
Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about yourself to begin with?
I'm Patrick Quin
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An interview with Rob Carry
Good afternoon! As part of our ongoing series on rising nationalist stars and voices in Ireland, we're delighted to be able to introduce local community activist, businessman and politician, Rob Carry!
We've been talking about his amazing work for and with his community, as well as his aspirations and plans for the future.
ACS: Can you tell us a little about yourself, your background, and where you're coming from?
RC: Sure. So I’m a small business owner (I run a commercial gym, a martial arts club
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An Interview with Gavin from Offgrid Ireland
Good morning and welcome to another in our series of interviews with prominent figures and rising stars in modern Irish nationalism!
Today we're talking to Gavin from a prominent and influential online discussion group, the X SPACES Éire Community. This very active group has at one time or another hosted many well-known nationalist names and continues to grow in both size and influence.
ACS: Can you share with our readers some of your background and a little about who you are?
OI: I am an Offaly man, born and bred, now in my la
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A New Voice For Ireland
We are pleased to introduce a new rising star among Irish nationalists - although she needs no introduction for many of you who have attended Irish Ireland protests recently - Ciara Ní Mhainnín! Her uncompromising voice offers a clear challenge to the establishment and a great example for us all to follow.
Ciara very kindly took the time to join us in an online interview, which we are delighted to publish here.
ACS: What made you decide to get involved with the Irish Ireland cause, was there one particular event or was it more of a process?
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The last address of Thomas MacDonagh
There is not much left to say. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic has been adduced in evidence against me as one of the Signatories. I adhere to every statement in the Proclamation. You think it already a dead and buried letter, but it lives, it lives. From minds alight with Ireland’s vivid intellect it sprang; in hearts aflame with Ireland’s mighty love it was conceived. Such documents do not die.
The British occupation of Ireland has never for more than one hundred years been compelled to confront in the field of fight a Rising so formidable as that which overwhe
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From A Hermitage - DECEMBER 1913
I was once stranded on a desert island with a single companion. When two people are stranded on a desert island they naturally converse. We conversed. We sat on a stony beach and talked for hours. When we had exhausted all the unimportant subjects either of us could think of, we commenced to talk about important subjects. (I have observed that even on a desert island it is not considered good form to talk of important things while unimportant things remain to be discussed.)
We had very different points of views, and very different temperaments. I was a boy; my companion was
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