An Ghaeltacht

Gearoid

A chairde,
Just wondering what are your views on how the country's gaeltachts could be saved?

Gael

Ending government hypocrisy on the language would be a start.
Fianna Fáil have the audacity to claim they're a revivalist party, when after their being in power in this state for more than fifty years, it's still a fact that you can't function in this country without English as a primary language, inside OR outsdie the Gaeltacht.
Private sector doesn't want to know about Irish (with rare exceptions) and the government couldn't give a f**k about making them care. And it's still not possible to deal with the state and public authorities completely through Irish, Court cases, County Councils, Civil Service etc.
And the government still sits smugly in Leinster House as the Party of "Athbheochan na Gaeilge", simply because they teach compulsory Irish in the schools, Dev put some empty lip-service into the constitution about it being the first lanaguge of the state, and Bertie spouts the cúpla focal at the start of his annual speech at the Wolfe Tone Boddenstown commemoration. Let the government start by not insulting our intelligence.

I consider Éamon Ó Cuív an honourable exception to this bunch, but he's only small fry in the cabinet and can't do anything, however good his intentions, if the senior members of government don't consent. i.e. if Charlie MacCreavey decides that TG4 and Raidió na Gaeltachta should have their budgets frozen or even cut, as part of governmenr cutbacks, there's f-all Eamon Ó Cuív can do as Gaeltacht minister to stop it.

Lastly on a related issue, despite an Supreme Court order a few years ago in the case of "The State vs. Ó Beoláin", the correct provisions for offering full court services in Irish have still not been fulfilled and it has been recognised that a State case against any given defendant demanding them, could easily collapse for lack of these services, based on the Supreme Court judgement of a few years ago in the Ó Beoláin case. So if you find yourself up in court for some misdemenour, simply demand that you have you're case done in Irish and the case against you will more than likely collapse.

You be off scot-free and content in the knowledge that you dealt a blow for ár dteanga dhúchais.:D

Gearoid

lol. What happens if they can do the case in Irish and ur not fluent?!
Ne other views on the title subject would be appeciated.
SGF

spongebob

the planning laws are a joke in Galway

most Gaeltacht people cannot afford the second hand houses on sale and they may not build on their own family land.

Gael

Gearóid wrote:

lol. What happens if they can do the case in Irish and ur not fluent?!

They call your bluff, and you simply change your mind again to revert to English. It'll piss them off but as far as I know they can't prosecute you for linguistic indecision. Any way isn't it worth the risk if it might get you off scot free and leave egg all over the faces of our the legal bureaucrats?

TruckledUncivil wrote:
?

Honestly i think that the Irish language has lost its relevance as a useful language other than an academic interest or cultural interest. English is a blessing on Ireland and probably the best thing the british ever gave us. It is very much a world language.

This is one of the oldest arguments and most clichéd against Irish and to be honest it's a weak one.
I'll be the first to acknowledge that it's to the benefit of everyone in Ireland that they be fluent in English because like it or loath it it is a very strong lanaguage of commerce and especially since the Second World War and the rise of the US as a superpower it has become a global lingua franca.

But I still don't see why the irish people can't be bi-lingual and I truly believe that this narrow-minded lazy mono-linguistic attitude that exists in the english speaking world is one of the worst legacies of British colonialism that there is, and no matter how much we tell ourselves how confident we are in the New Ireland,
I think that these utiliatarian arguments against the language subtly conceal remnants of a colonial inferiority complex.
For example. It's estimated statistically that approx. 70% of people in Scandinavia and in Holland speak fluent English, which obviously they have learned for it's usefulness as a internationally widespread language.
It's a good idea and all power to them. Yet...the languages of Scandinavia and Dutch show no sign of decline as the fundamental venacular of these countries. These people have gone out of their way to learn English for a very good reason, yet they have no shame or reluctance to speak their native venaculars in their everyday lives, except when of course they wish to communicate with someone who doesn't speak their venacular, when they will more than likely use english. But they still work, socialise and live out their family lives through their local venacular and hold it in no lower esteem than English.
Germany is another excellent example. Now I haven't been there but I know for a fact that their number of fluent english speakers is close to that of Holland etc. My mother went there once for a week on her own, hadn't a word of german yet had no problem functioning there. and yet again, the German language is in no state of decline. Why is it different for the Irish. Why do we feel this need to abandon our venacular like something we're ashamed of, in order to have good English?
This widespread fluency inEnglish has occured on the European continent without any colinisation by the British Empire there, it occured through widespread education and the help of the mass media, so you'll forgive me TruckledUncivil, if I don't fall over myself
to thank the British for being so kind as to come over and to civilise us Paddy savages and to "give" us their wonderful language. Their selfless generosity knows no bounds!
:rolleyes:
Incidentally and somewhat ironically, when the first colonisation by the Normans of Ireland occured in the 12th century, French was the language of the powerful and the influencial and English. or it's ancestor Old-English was considered the language of the muck-savage plebs of England and was very much looked down by the rich and influential.
It's certainly wasn't considered as being in any way an advanced or influential language. In fact in many ways in the early Middle ages,
Irish was a much more developed written venacular than was English, bu then again they never tell you these things do they?

The Reaper

cheapaim mó beinn muid go leir i gconnai ag caint gaelge beidh ar gach duine eile! tá ar an goverment airgead a thabhairt do na gaeltachtai! chuaigh me go di an gaeltacht seacht ur agus mó teigheann duine an t-am go leir beidh ar daoine saobhail na gaeltachtai

The Reaper

Which Gaeiltachts have u been to?

ive been to donegal! gouth dobhair! 5years in a row for 3weeks each time! always had the best irish crack goin!

ive also been in cork! bailebhorne twice it was also quite fun!

ive always had the best time of my life in the gaeltachts!

its a massive shame that they are starting to disapear! something must be done but wat??

[Iramus]

I lived in Na Rosainn (donegal) all my life and i think Irish is great. Sure its not useful but it gives us Identity as a Culture. Dont you think thats cool? Geilge is what it means to be irish....its a pride thing or somethin. No fk it, im goin to watch the match.

Bard

TruckledUncivil, I suggest you read the charter and stop posting in such an inappropriate manner.

I've tidied this thread by removing posts that had nothing to do with the Gaeltacht - including posts by Mr. Uncivil and The Reaper. Unfortunately, that also means some of your replies to "Truckled", Muck.

Also, "The Reaper"'s new thread on Gaeltachts has been merged into this one.

Thanks,

[Iramus]

ok...we're talkin about gaeltachts now? TheReaper you said you went to gaoth Dobhair? thats cool alot of my friends live there and when the students came in the summer we had great craic...*sigh* ill prob never have as much craic in the summer now that im livin in dublin....but @Thereaper: the gaeltacht in Gaoth dobhair wont disappear for a loooong time. I know old people there that have trouble speaking bearla!

The Reaper

Originally posted by [Iramus]
TheReaper you said you went to gaoth Dobhair? thats cool alot of my friends live there and when the students came in the summer we had great craic...*sigh* I know old people there that have trouble speaking bearla!

Yeah it was always mental craic!!!!!!!! and ur right there it will be around for a long time!!!!! i know some have problems speaking bearla which i taut was kewl!!!! name some of ur friends see if i no them after all i was there for 3weeks for 5years!

[Iramus]

hmm..lets see, you'd prob have to tell me wha part of Gaoth Dobhair you lived in. Doireacha beaga, Bun beag or dobhair. Do you know Sean Mc Elaney, Ronan, Chris Mc fadden, Eamonn, i dunno i could go on all day.

The Reaper

Originally posted by [Iramus]
hmm..lets see, you'd prob have to tell me wha part of Gaoth Dobhair you lived in. Doireacha beaga, Bun beag or dobhair. Do you know Sean Mc Elaney, Ronan, Chris Mc fadden, Eamonn, i dunno i could go on all day.

i was in colaiste an phiarsaigh beside Bun beag

Gearoid

Just to get this debate rolling again, as anybody got any suggestions whatsoever on how Irish in the Gaeltacht and even the Galltacht could be restored?

The Reaper

Originally posted by Gearoid
Just to get this debate rolling again, as anybody got any suggestions whatsoever on how Irish in the Gaeltacht and even the Galltacht could be restored?

the question is gearoid IS THERE A WAY???????

reimo

I went to secondary school in Ráth Cairn... the Gaeltacht in Meath.
By the end of 6th year, there was ONE local in our class... the rest were all from the surrounding towns.
Alot of the locals go to English schools.

The other gaeltacht in Meath- Baile Ghibb isn't really a Gaeltacht at all. There's an Irish primary school, and thats about it.


I was in the Gaeltacht in Waterford a few weeks ago- An Rinn. It was ok... there are a few company's there who operate through Irish (Nemeton- who make most Sport shows for TG4), but when we went to the pub that night, the people who ran it couldn't speak a word. Only one person we spoke to spoke Irish back to us.

The government has to do something about the Planning permission first of all.
But secondly, they have to realise that the majority of Irish speakers don;t come from the Gaeltacht.
I study a course through Irish in DCU... nobody in my year is from a Gealtacht. There is ONE person in 2nd year from An Ceathrú Rua in Galway. And thats about it.

In my opinion, 1/3 of all new primary schools should be all-Irish schools. In Navan, there's a huge demand for the primary school- but now they can only accept people who had relatives in the school in the past because of the demand.

They should help the Gaeltachts... but put more funding into the country as a whole- especially Education!!

Dónall

I did an Irish course in the sw Donegal Gaeltacht last summer (with Oideas Gael in Glencolumcille, great crack :cool: ) It's supposed to be a Gaeltacht area but I rarely heard Irish being spoken. The odd time I did it was intoxicating, like spotting a rare bird. The young people in particular don't seem to be very keen on the language. It's hard to know what exactly to do there. A huge obstacle seems to be that the type of Irish spoken in each area is so peculiar to that area that a native speaker from Tory Island, for instance, might feel more comfortable speaking in English to a native speaker from Dingle.

I think someone else mentioned here that there are far more people speaking Irish as a chosen second language. This is great but never the same as there being a community that has it as a first and principal language. It's depressing really, but I for one am going to do what I can for the language when I get back to Ireland in a couple of months.

One interesting phenomenon is the people in Northern Ireland who are now speaking Irish only to there children, taking advantage of post Good Friday agreement funding for gaelscoileanna in the north. I worry here about how proficient the parent's Irish is to be speaking it as a main language to their kids. And would these kids then be native speakers?
There are few cases of this in history - the most notable being the case of Hebrew which was dead as a spoken tongue and is now the first language to many hundreds of thousands - in very dramatic circumstances of course, but interesting.

JoeKelly

Is ón gaeltacht me agus o cad a fheicimse gach lá sna comhlachtaí mórthimpeall orm ni bhionn fiú is focal amhain gaeilge le clos. Tageann na comhlachtai mora agus monachain chuig an ghaeltacht chun airgead a shú ó Udarás na Gaeltachta agus ní ná una go bhfuil se ar intinn ag an rialtas an buan den ghaeltacht a bhaint uainn mar níl ann a thuille ach foinse airgead dos na 'ard-bhainisteoiri' sna comhluchtaí tuilteanach e a ghoid. Nil aon laghas ar an bhfadhb faoin dtrath seo mar ffs ni labhaireann einne i a thuille agus nil'd chun tosnú anois. ach ni ansan ach mo thuairim.

Tir gan teanga , tír gan anam.

Dónall

JoeKelly,
sorry to not answer you in Irish - I'd be here all night and my written Irish is awful anyway. As someone from the Gaeltacht what did you think about what I said about young people in Gaeltacht areas not really wanting to keep up their Irish?

What you said about Údarás na Gaeltachta is sad but true, but probably true of state funding ventures everywhere. Companies and factories are rarely charities. Has funding from Údarás na Gaeltachta been of any use at all?
I was up in Donegal last summer and myself and the girl I was with got a lift (I mention the girl because that's probably why we got the lift so quickly) from an Údarás na Gaeltachta big wig from Mayo on what he called a "freebie"; touring factories they were funding. So we ended up trailing an Údarás na Gaeltachta official tour; self-important, mostly fat men (all men) in suits who spoke to each other in Irish but to all the managers of the places they visited in English.
But I suppose jobs are jobs. I don't know. What would you suggest?

JoeKelly

Yea i agree with u there Dónaill most of the teens around the gaeltacht hav little or no interest in speakin irish, dont know y but suppose its just easier not to speak it.As for the Udarás na Gaeltachta grants, as far as i know there quite large, enough at least to fund the construction of a new factory buildin which is obviously an advantage to anyone tryin to start a new business.

Any one know under what conditions can u get the grant must u b a decendent of a gaeltacht area or have some irish speaking skills??

Gearoid

I think u have to have good Irish and setup the busness in the Gaeltacht.

Dónall

I was talking to a fella there about what he called the "Falls Rd." Gaeltacht in Belfast. Some parents there are speaking to their kids in Irish only, ever since post Belfast agreement funding allowed for state funded Gaelscoileanna to open.
Now, I was thinking; is this really a Gaeltacht? Will these kids be be native speakers if Irish is their first language but not their parent's native tongue? This is a very tricky area as I know from living in Spain what a complicated thing true fluency in another language is.
What do you all think?

reimo

I don't really believe in Gaeltachts anymore. They're just a Legend these days... like Tír na nÓg.

Myself and a mate of mine had a big row with some guy we know while we were all on a trip to the Gaeltacht for college.
I'm not a Native speaker, neither is my mate.
But this other bollicks who's parents are from the Gaeltacht said we had no right to be speaking Irish at all. The two of us went mad at him.
He makes no effort whatsoever to speak Irish. The two of us, who come from families where neither parent speaks Irish, made the effort to speak Irish and receive our full education through Irish... and its bollicks' like him that make the Government pour support into support the Gaeltachts- places where alot of people have no intrest in the language.

I went to secondary school in the Gaeltacht... only one person in my class in 6th year was from the Gaeltacht. On my course in college, I only know of one person from a Gaeltacht (its a course through Irish in DCU).

The situation up North is good. I'd even say a greater proportion of people up there speak Irish there than here.
I heard on Nuacht TG4 that an old RUC barracks was knocked and they're building about 16 houses in its place specifically for IRISH SPEAKING FAMILIES!


To be honest there are SFA native Irish speakers, and the Government should see that. The majority of Irish speakers aren't from the Gaeltachts.
Even Gearóid here can't find anybody to speak Irish with AND HE LIVES IN THE GAELTACHT!!!


Funding should be put into Irish language primary and secondary schools and the training of the majority of all new theachers through Irish.
There is a HUGE demand for Irish language schools... and the existing ones can't cope.
There are 4 secondary schools in Navan with over 1000 pupils in each... there are NO Irish secondary schools.
There are 5 main primary schools in the town, one of them is an Irish language school and it can't cope with demand. It can only accept pupils who've had a brother/sister that has previously attended the school.

The gaeltachts are dead. The majority of people who do, and want to, speak Irish are from outside the Gaeltachts.
But the facilities don't exist, because the Government WASTES its money on the Gaeltachts.

Dónall

I was up in the south west Donegal Gaeltacht last summer doing an Irish course at Oideas Gael. I did occasionally hear Irish being spoken by local people, but most people were speaking English to each other. A guy in my class spoke to a shopkeeper in Irish, who then just answered him in English. The bargirls in the pub seemed relieved that you didn't talk to them in Irish. This was annoying, but I've also being told by native speakers that the Irish spoken by even the best-intentioned speaker for the Galltacht can be irritating and even difficult to understand for a native speaker who may be more used to a very local dialect, and who speaks English anyway. The situation can feel very artificial for them. The guy who told you you shouldn't be speaking Irish just sounds like a bod feisithe tho', and you get them in every language group!

The Gaeltachts aren't quite dead yet, but almost. There are still some people who speak Irish simply because that's their first language and the native language of their parents. But fewer and fewer. Irish may be officially dead in a generation or two. When I say officially dead I mean an organic link of Irish as an (unchosen) native tongue going back more than a couple of thousand years will be broken. That's enormously depressing.

The language will then be in the strange position of being an extinct language that is yet spoken by thousands of people in their daily life and all over the country (and the world, as I live in Madrid and chat with a friend from Dundalk in Irish whenever I can, although my Irish is pretty sh*te, I'm working very hard at it these days though before I move back to Dublin, where I'm told there's more and more Irish being spoken - excellent!....)
But I wonder what sort of position that puts the language in. No matter how well you speak a language, either it's your native tongue or it isn't.

I'm going to work hard at it anyhow. I only came back to Irish a couple of years ago, when I got the internet at home. I learned very little at school. It's only really from living abroad for years and living for long periods completely in Spanish that I moved back to Irish out of a mixture of curiosity and nostalgia. It's also definitely true that when you speak a second language learning a third is much easier, if only because psychologically you know how possible it is.
When I did the intensive course in Oideas Gael I fell in love with the language (and my teacher, a bit, a lovely girl from the Glenties , a native speaker..) It's a language also feel very at home in, somehow, the more I speak it.
My new found enthusiasm has already sparked an active interest in two people I know who went to gaelscoileanna years ago, but then left the language behind. And I'm not even in Ireland. I figure this sort of thing is what makes the language grow again.

I'm still worried about the whole question of the "organic" native link being broken. Is it really too late?

How do you say "long winded" in Irish?;)

Reimo, btw, do you chat with your classmates in Irish and all? And how do they check your level of Irish before enrolling? It's great to hear of people doing courses through Irish at college. Are there many such options these days?

Gearoid

Reimo, Just to clarify That there are ppl in my Gaeltacht who speak Irish, the point I was putting across is that it is not a real everyday language as the word Gaeltacht would emply. In my opinion the fíor ghaeltacht is nearly dead and language patterns are changing and evening out to an extent.

reimo

Originally posted by Dónaill

Reimo, btw, do you chat with your classmates in Irish and all? And how do they check your level of Irish before enrolling? It's great to hear of people doing courses through Irish at college. Are there many such options these days?

Yeah, I speak Irish with my classmates. Not all the time though. As with most people, when you want to say something, you say it in english... but alot of the time we speak Irish. Myself and the lads speak Irish to each other most of the time. Sometimes when you speak to the girls in Irish, they answer in english. But thats on purpose I think (unfortunatly)

As for how they check your Irish... they don't. Its in all the brocures that its all through Irish and that you should be confident with your Irish- written and oral.
There are entry requirements with Irish. But they're not strict. They can't say you have to get an A2 in higher level to do the course. Its like telling somebody to get an A2 in English because they want to study Business.

There aren't many such options I'm afraid. Thats where FIONTAR is unique. I'm sure there's something in NUI Galway and some of the DIT's in Donegal and Mayo... but this BSc is the only real one.

Ace7

Hello everyone,

First time poster and so I'm new to these boards (which are excellent, by the way). A few comments and then a few questions, if I may...

I try to visit Ireland once a year and have done for years and typically stay somewhere on the West coast, close to the ghaeltachts. Over the years I've stayed in Spiddal, Bundoran, Lahinch, Aran Islands, An Rinn, Dingle, etc.

Bundoran afforded a gateway to the west - Slieve League, Mallin Head, etc. where it felt very gaelic but in reality I never heard it spoken at all in the two weeks I spent there.

I never heard any gaelic while in the Aran Isands either, and I guessed this had something to do with the fact that so many tourists saturate the islands these days.

Ann Rinn...never heard any spoken, but I noticed some of the announcements in the pubs were written in gaelic.

The most 'gaelic' experience I've had so far on my travels in Ireland was when I stayed in Spiddal, Co Galway for two weeks a couple years ago. In one Spiddal pub that I frequented, about half the pub was speaking gaelic - or at least breaking in and out of it anyway.

The further west you go out of Spiddal, the more gaelic it gets, or so it seemed to me anyway. There's a delightful pub called 'The Potein Maker' on the main road on the right hand side a few miles west out of Spiddal where almost the entire pub was talking gaelic - and listening to Radio Ghaeltacht, too.

I made a point of speaking to the locals in Spiddal about the language and its prospects. I spoke to teenagers and was disturbed to learn they feel the language is dying out. Even though they could speak it - and they did, in their homes, with their parents - as soon as they were among their friends out on the street they nearly always spoke in english.

I also spoke with a man in his seventies who told me something I didn't know. Although he was fluent in gaelic and had spoken it all his life, he couldn't understand Donegal gaelic which, it must be said, isn't that far away geography wise. He told me had had attended a yachting regatta in Galway and he ended up speaking english to the folks from Donegal so that they could all understand each other. I assume then, that the differences in dialects have inadvertantly - and sadly - aided the decline of the language ?

When in Spiddal I was told that an area just to the west, in and around Ros Muc (Rosmuck), was still very gaelic speaking, but I never made it there on that visit to see for myself.

Anyways...I have some interest in learning some of the language. I'm not sure how practical that will be given that I currently only visit Ireland once a year, but I'm willing to try. Pursuant to that, I wanted to ask you folks some questions please...

1. Knowing what you know about the language, and the various resources available, if you didn't know the language at all and you were starting out, how would YOU personally go about it i.e. where would you start ?

2. How difficult is it to learn and how long would you say it takes to gain some conversational proficiency ? (I realize this is subjective in that it will vary from person to person, and I myself am not proficient in any other language, or at least not fluently (should I then perhaps learn another language first, such as Spanish, which I've heard is rather easy ?))

3. Should I be concered about the various Irish dialects and if so, which one should I start out learning ?

4. For future visits to Ireland, can you recommend and direct me to specific towns/villages/places/areas that are more 'gaelic' than those that I've already visited ?

As you can tell, I'm just starting out and don't really know where to start. On the other hand, it means I haven't made any mistakes yet or got frustrated !

Thank you kindly for any and all advice you can furnish,

Slan go foil !
(I'll get my coat...:))

Yoda

Ar chuir éinne agaibh cuairt ar Ghaeltacht Tuar Mhic Éadaigh? Ní rinne mise go fóill (anois i mo chónaí i gCathair na Mart), ach táim ag smaoineamh faoi.

simu

Ace7 wrote:

1. Knowing what you know about the language, and the various resources available, if you didn't know the language at all and you were starting out, how would YOU personally go about it i.e. where would you start ?

Look through some of the earlier threads on this forum - I'm sure there are many that deal with this topic.

2. How difficult is it to learn and how long would you say it takes to gain some conversational proficiency ? (I realize this is subjective in that it will vary from person to person, and I myself am not proficient in any other language, or at least not fluently (should I then perhaps learn another language first, such as Spanish, which I've heard is rather easy ?))

Hard to say how long it would take as there are many factors to take into account. I don't see the point of learning another language first unless you want to learn that other language for some other reason.

3. Should I be concered about the various Irish dialects and if so, which one should I start out learning ?

Learn one dialect and later on, all you have to do is get used to the others.

4. For future visits to Ireland, can you recommend and direct me to specific towns/villages/places/areas that are more 'gaelic' than those that I've already visited ?

West of Dingle, Co. Kerry is the Irish speaking place I know best and Irish is still spoken daily there.

I made a point of speaking to the locals in Spiddal about the language and its prospects. I spoke to teenagers and was disturbed to learn they feel the language is dying out. Even though they could speak it - and they did, in their homes, with their parents - as soon as they were among their friends out on the street they nearly always spoke in english.

It's a complicated question but in general, teenagers don't think all that much about things like language, I find. With my siblings and I, it's only when we reached our late teens/early twenties that we really began to consider its importance. (We were raised through Irish).

I also spoke with a man in his seventies who told me something I didn't know. Although he was fluent in gaelic and had spoken it all his life, he couldn't understand Donegal gaelic which, it must be said, isn't that far away geography wise. He told me had had attended a yachting regatta in Galway and he ended up speaking english to the folks from Donegal so that they could all understand each other. I assume then, that the differences in dialects have inadvertantly - and sadly - aided the decline of the language ?

The decline of the language is more down to economics but I'm not going to go into that here. Older people are probably not as used to travelling outside their own areas and meeting people with other dialects but overall, I find that people with Irish like to get a chance to speak it and that they're willing to make an effort with other dialects to do so.

simu

Yoda wrote:

Ar chuir éinne agaibh cuairt ar Ghaeltacht Tuar Mhic Éadaigh? Ní rinne mise go fóill (anois i mo chónaí i gCathair na Mart), ach táim ag smaoineamh faoi.

Ní rabhas riamh ann ach is dócha gurbh fhiú dul ann uair éigin.

Ace7

Tourmakeady...yes, I have been there and have certainly heard of its reputation as a gaelic stronghold. Sadly I only stopped there for half an hour as I drove through. I stopped at the general store along the main road there - the store that stands isolated on its own on a corner - and bought some bread, cheese and fruit for lunch. The young couple who ran the store were most friendly. And yes, I remember that some of the people who came in were speaking in gaelic.

Westport...yes, I've been there too. It struck me as a rather trendy/touristy town. Had dinner there at one of the recommended/expensive pubs/restaurants that overlooked the harbor. Sat down and ate on new(ish) red leather seats/benches by the fire (it was in December). Awesome ! If I remember correctly, I had climbed Croagh Patrick the day before (virtually alone).

(Boy, I sure hope I answered at least somewhere along the lines of what you asked me - assuming you actually asked me anything !)