Teachers Eimear Doran and Joe Seoighe, scholarship winners Kayna O’Connell, Ella Sweeney, and James Waldron, Sile Ni Fhoghlú (Coláiste Laichtín), Micheal Monaghan (Gaeltacht an Eachréidh) and Ciaran Tierney (Gaeltacht an Eachréidh) at the announcement of the winners of scholarships to study Irish on Inis Oirr this week.

Four teenagers from Claregalway, Annaghdown, and Corrandulla are on their way to the smallest of the Aran Islands this summer after winning scholarships from Gaeltacht an Eachréidh.
The winners of the four scholarships were announced at Coláiste Baile Chláir just before the Easter Holidays, during a presentation ceremony in which the scholarship winners got a chance to meet Sile Ni Fhoghlú from Coláiste Laichtín.
Each of the four students will spend a fortnight attending the ‘coláiste samhraidh’ on the Gaeltacht island in July and August of this year.
During the winter months, students at Coláiste Baile Chláir had to submit recordings to Gaeltacht an Eachréidh to outline why they should be considered for the scholarships, worth over €1000 each, to cover a two week course on the island.
Ciaran Tierney, the Irish Language Planning Officer for Gaeltacht an Eachréidh, presented James Waldron, Ella Sweeney, and Kayna O’Connell with cards to mark their achievement in winning the scholarships to Inis Oirr. The fourth student, Seán Hogan, was unavaible on the day of the photo shoot.
Ciaran said the standard of the recordings was unbelievably high. This is the first year in which Gaeltacht an Eachréidh (which covers Claregalway, Annaghdown, and Carnmore) has been able to offer full scholarships to an Irish language summer college and he hopes it can become an annual partnership with Coláiste Laichtín.
“We were thrilled by the quality of the entries, which were submitted to teacher Joe Seoighe just before the Christmas holidays,” said Ciaran. “It was difficult to pick the four winners because of the high standard of the applications, but we were also delighted to see the interest which teenagers in this area have in improving their spoken Irish.
“The winners were not necessarily those with the best Irish, but those who showed the greatest passion for immersing themselves in the language and the life of an offshore island. Having spent a couple of years working on Inis Oirr myself, where I picked up my Irish as an adult, I know that they will have a brilliant time and we are looking forward to hearing their stories when they come back to school in September.”