Scéim Chónaithe Dhartraí

PurpleFistMixer

I'm looking at this gaeltacht residential scheme, as a prospective trinity student.
Does anybody know anyone who's qualified for it/on it/know anything else about it and what's involved?
I'd say I don't have a chance to qualify because I live in Dublin and am neither a native speaker of nor have an extremely high level of Irish, but it can't hurt to try, I guess. My hope is that a) it's not inundated with applicants and b) they value enthusiasm more than a perfect standard of Irish.. but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Ron DMC

Well having known a few people who have lived there in the last two years, I'd say that certainly enthusiasm is highly encouraged. They tend to get a good mix of people in with all levels of Irish. Certainly they'll pick people from Gaelscoileanna down the country, but someone merely competent but enthusiastic should still be in with a chance too.

Being from Dublin won't help much at all really as Halls tends to be for boggers mostly, but this really depends where in Dublin you are, as if transport to the city centre is at all difficult for you, that'll certainly work in your favour.

And if all else fails, come to Trinity anyway, get involved in societies (Cumann Gaelach specifically), and then apply for the Campus Scéim Cónaithe in a year or two (which is far better imho).

JC 2K3

Had I decided to move out I would have applied last year, but I didn't.

Because one of the requirements is fluent Irish, and there are only 12 places, I doubt you'd get it unless your Irish is quite a high standard.

However, if you participate in a lot of Irish cultural activities or have some other references to prove your interest in the language and Irish culture(as opposed to having a moderate level of Irish, little evidence of enthusiasm and seem to be just looking for the money), then you might have a chance.

PurpleFistMixer

JC 2K3 wrote: »

(as opposed to having a moderate level of Irish, little evidence of enthusiasm and seem to be just looking for the money)

Jaysus if I wanted a grand there'd be simpler ways than living through Irish. : p

Do you know if they hold interviews? I don't really have an awful lot of concrete examples of participation in Irish culture, but I'd be confident of my ability to convey my enthusiasm were I asked to talk about it.

This is all quite wishful thinking of course, I live about 10 miles from the city centre and there are buses and things, so I can see them not wanting to give me a place. Faraor.

Ron DMC

JC 2K3 wrote: »

However, if you participate in a lot of Irish cultural activities or have some other references to prove your interest in the language and Irish culture(as opposed to having a moderate level of Irish, little evidence of enthusiasm and seem to be just looking for the money), then you might have a chance.

Actually yeah JC, very good point, can't stress that enough. Proving that you have an interest in terms of club memberships etc goes a long way, and also proves some decent social skills (which they love when trying to put together a 'community').

Jim_Are_Great

There's no interview, though. At least there wasn't for this year. And quite a few of mes amigos here have considerably less than perfect Irish.

PurpleFistMixer

Do any of them come from Dublin/other nearby areas?

Jim_Are_Great

No, actually. Though I'm not sure if that's a result of policy or coincidence.