Seoidín, aged three and a half months, meets Tom Concannon for the first time. Tom will celebate his 99th birthday this month.

A legendary Annaghdown man will mark a special milestone this month when Tom Concannon, believed to be the oldest Irish speaker on the east side of the Corrib, celebrates his 99th birthday with his family.

Ahead of the birthday celebrations, our Irish language planning officer Ciaran Tierney paid a visit to Tom’s house yesterday in the company of Alanagh Ni Chioniola Ni Ghriofa, the young Gaeilgeoir who intervewed 20 native Irish speakers between Gaeltacht an Eachréidh and An Bruach Thoir in 2024.

Alanagh had a special visitor with her to meet Tom – her three and a half month old daughter, Seoidín, who travelled to Annaghdown along with Alannagh’s mother Roisin, a native speaker from the Aran Islands.

There is no better storyteller in Gaeltacht an Eachréidh than Tom and his ability to remember Irish proverbs is astounding.

Tom was the first person we interviewed as part of our Native Speakers Project in December 2023. Alanagh’s interview with Tom is one of the ten videos from this area are on our YouTube channel.

You can find Tom’s interview ‘as Gaeilge’ with Alanagh here: https://youtu.be/GKkx6Ox-CaQ?si=n2yKgXeex8ddR5Hh

Tom’s home is something of an “open house”.

Academics and scholars from all over Ireland visit him regularly to hear the unique Irish spoken by people on the eastern banks of the Corrib.

And he has fantastic stories. Such as the day in which he got the best out of Connemara farmers at a Galway City market because they thought he and his father had no understanding of Irish.

Tom loves to tell people stories of poitin-making, rebellion, the strict clergy, and what it was like to grow up in an Irish-speaking household on the eastern bank of the Corrib. His late wife came from just across the lake in Cloniffe, Moycullen, and he spoke of the links between Irish-speakers on both sides of the river.

He had a special welcome for Seoidín and spoke of the joy his own children and grandchildren brought to his own life.

“Go maire tú an céad!” (May you live to be 100 … and beyond!).

 

Tom Concannon loves to welcome guests to his Annaghdown home, especially if they can speak our native language. Academics from all over Ireland have recorded his beautiful Irish.

Tom Concannon and Alanagh Ni Chioniola Ni Ghriofa in his Annaghdown farm last year. Tom was the first person we interviewed as part of our Native Speakers Project and he turns 99 this month.