Athenry man Oisín Ó Conaill was in the spotlight this week emphasising the importance of Irish in sports, and sports for Irish, at Leinster House.
On Wednesday last 17/4, TG4’s interns took centre stage in Leinster House and spoke with members of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish-Speaking Community to air their views and aspirations about the future of the Irish language.
The Committee is dedicated to promoting the use of Irish as a vernacular language in every aspect of Irish life.
One of the interns is a young Galway native. Oisín Ó Conaill from Athenry works as the Social Media Co-ordinator for Spórt TG4.
His responsibilities include scheduling posts, conducting interviews and covering live sporting events through the various social media channels of Spórt TG4.
While speaking in front of the committee Óisín stated that, “in my own area, the GAA is very strong like many areas across the country.”
“Having said that, the Irish language does not receive the same amount of interest even though they are both intertwined in Irish culture”
He also mentioned that “the history of the GAA is embedded in Irish. Sports played by Irish heroes, such as Cú Chulainn and Na Fianna.”
“Now the Irish language is only seen on the back of jerseys, or you might hear a sentence or two from a captain when they are accepting a cup.”
Oisín attended primary school in Gaelscoil Dara in Renmore and continued on to Coláiste an Eachréidh in Athenry in secondary school. He always had an interest in sport having played underage hurling and soccer for Athenry.
Living beside Athenry Golf Club lead to Oisín gaining a real interest in Golf from a young age and he would class it as his favourite sport to this day.
After secondary school, he attended the University of Galway to study Irish and Psychology and through this experience he started to lean towards a career through the medium of Irish.
When the opportunity to work with Spórt TG4 arose, he grabbed it with both hands as he believed it was his ideal job, combining two of his biggest interests.
Oisín had the opportunity to meet with Galway politicians in Leinster House including Catherine Connolly TD, Éamon Ó Cuív TD, Mairéad Farrell TD and senators Ronan Mullen and Seán Kyne.
Oisín believes that “At the end of the day we are all Irish and to this day, it is the Irish language that gives us meaning in terms of our surnames, our heritage, our place names and our sports.”
“I would say that everyone has heard someone say before that they were not interested in Irish because of the way it was taught at school. Well in that case why don’t we teach Irish in our sports sessions?”
“A fresh, fun way to learn the language. Clubs such as Gaeil na Gaillimhe and Na Gaeil Óga use Irish as their main means of communication.”
He continued, “People have a lot of interest in the sporting side of the culture, but our duty is to foster that interest so that the most important aspect of the culture, our language, will flourish.”
Since 2018 TG4 has invited applications from third level graduates, or newcomers to the industry, to participate in a year-long work experience internship programme with the Irish language station.
To date up tp 30 interns have come through this programme and have grasped this opportunity to gain the experience of being mentored by members of the TG4 team.
