‘An honour to celebrate the Irish language’: 42 Meath students win Gaeltacht scholarships
Forty-two secondary school students from across Co Meath have been awarded Gaeltacht scholarships as part of an initiative led by Meath County Council.
The scholarships, funded through the council’s Irish Language and Creative Ireland programmes, were presented at a ceremony in Buvinda House on March 11.
Leas-Chathaoirleach Cllr Caroline O’Reilly and Director of Services for Culture, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs Barry Lynch presented the awards to students representing 23 secondary schools across the county.
The scholarship scheme, first established in 2018, commemorates Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh, a founding actress of the Abbey Theatre and a member of Cumann na mBan who took part in the Easter Rising. She later worked as a branch librarian in Laytown during the 1950s.
In recent years, the scheme has been expanded to include scholarships for students attending DEIS schools. The two DEIS scholarships honour the memory of two other Irish language activists from the county, Mother Columba Gibbons, Loreto Navan, and Máire Ní Raghallaigh from Drumconrath.
Students and their families attending the ceremony were also treated to a performance by Étáin Ní Churraoin, a sean-nós singer and native Irish speaker from the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht.
Speaking at the event, Mr Lynch said it was “an honour to celebrate the Irish language and the memory of three revolutionaries who otherwise would have got lost in the passage of time”.
He added that the council remains committed to promoting the language through a range of initiatives, including the recent launch of the ANSEO “A Sense of Place” logainm project at Kells Library, supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The council extended its best wishes to all scholarship recipients ahead of their Gaeltacht courses this summer.