The local community turned out in force to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the festival in Claregalway – and the ‘Gaeilgeoirs’ were very  much among them, from children to adult learners to native speakers!

Gaeltacht an Eachréidh had a stand in An Cúinne Oidhreachta, the heritage tent, and it was lovely to chat to so many people about the revival of Irish in Claregalway over the course of three and a half hours.

Our stall also became an important stop off for children undertaking the treasure hunt which brought them all around the festival ground over the afternoon.

We even had a visit from Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughton – who must have been the only Government Minister left in Ireland yesterday!

St Patrick himself arrived with a Garda escort to kick start the festivities at 12 noon and it was great to see the festival to mark the national holiday return to the village for the second year in a row, after a break during the Covid years.

People were appreciative of the fact that there was a large marquee to protect them from the elements and that there was so much local talent on the main stage for almost four hours.

Thanks to the volunteers from the ‘Ciorcail Comhrá’ in Loughgeorge and at The Arches Hotel who helped us out at the information stall.

We also had Bláithin on hand to talk about the wonderful work she is doing at the naíonra in Claregalway and Eimear popped in to talk to teenagers about a sailing course ‘as Gaeilge’ which the Galway Bay Sailing Club will be running, with support from Gaeltacht an Eachreidh, next June.

We will have more details about the sailing course on our website soon.

We are looking forward to meeting some of you again at our new ‘Ciorcal Comhrá’ at The Arches Hotel tomorrow (Thursday) evening from 8pm to 9pm. If you haven’t been with us before, this is a good time to start! Celebrate our national holiday by practicing your Irish in a very friendly environment at The Arches.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!