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Charity Pop Up Gaeltacht in aid of the Live95 Stop Tour for Limerick kids

Charity Pop Up Gaeltacht in aid of the Live95 Stop Tour for Limerick kids

A Charity Pop Up Gaeltacht is taking place this Saturday, 16 September in aid of the Live95 Stop Tour for Limerick kids.

The event will take place in two halves this Saturday, Satharn an 16ú Méan Fomhair, with an Lá Teaghlaigh (Family Fun Day) taking place between 10 am and 4 pm and then the “Oíche na nGael” which is an over 18s event from 8pm-late.

The “Pop Up Gaeltacht” campaign is something which was brought to life last year in Baile Átha Cliath, taking any venue for a day or a night and transforming it into a temporary Gaeltacht. People come together to use their Gaeilge in a relaxed social setting and to meet other people who share their love of the language. Since its hugely successful beginning in Dublin, the trend has kicked off with Pop Up Gaeltachtaí now being organised all across Ireland and across the world.


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The initial motto for the concept, as displayed on their Facebook page, has struck a deep chord within the hearts of Gaeilgoirí; “Roghnaítear teach tabhairne uair sa mhí agus bailíonn Gaeil ann. Chun ól, like.” (A pub is chosen once a month and people with Irish meet together there. To drink, like.”

Fourth year UL student Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh is the driving force behind this particular Pop Up Gaeltacht, in coordination with Lesley-Anne Liddane of Chez le Fab and Limerick’s Live95fm.

“After seeing the huge success of the Pop Up Gaeltachtaí in Dublin, it made me think so much about the potential success of events trí mhéan na Gaeilge here in Limerick. It seemed crazy to me to think of how many hundreds of students here are going through Irish-medium education, who are all líofa sa Ghaeilge, of how many young teachers and third level students of Irish are in here studying in Limerick’s colleges, not to mention all our múnteoirí and even the parents who choose to send their children to these schools who clearly must have a high regard and interest in the language – it’s a huge amount of people! Then I thought about what a shame it was that this huge population of Gaeilgeoirí, all right here in Limerick, seldom get the opportunity to actually meet one another and to realise just how many of us Irish-speakers there are.

The Irish language is such a wonderful asset for a person, not just in the ‘oh you’ll get a great job with TG4 or the Department of Education sense’ but in its power to bring people together. From personal experience, I can’t even begin to count the amount of people I’ve met because of my love for the language and the amount of life-long friends I’ve made through speaking it.

That’s why the Pop Up Gaeltacht is such a wonderful opportunity to bring people together because as soon as a person steps through the door, they’ll have the wonderful feeling of knowing that they instantly have something in common with everyone else in the room, how many other events can promise you that?

A lot of parents in Limerick chose to send their kids to Gaelscoileanna even though they don’t have Irish themselves and after speaking to a number of parents in these circumstances, they often say how they wish there was more available for the children so they could use their Irish outside of school and that they could get involved with too – that’s what we’re aiming the Family Fun Day towards this Saturday, with workshops in Irish song and dance, arts and crafts and storytelling among other activities. This part of the day is made even more special by the fact that all donations will be going to the Live95 Stop Tour which raises much-needed funds for Limerick children’s charities. A Limerick children’s day out that helps other Limerick children in need, there’s just something really lovely about that.”

The Pop Up Gaeltacht for the Live95 Stop Tour takes place this Saturday, 16  September in Chez le Fab and is open to all lovers of Irish.

For more information about the event, contact [email protected].

To find out more about the Pop Up Gaeltacht click here

To read more of our stories on UL students achievements and activities click here  

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.