From Mad in Ireland: Gaelic or Irish was taught to most of us here in Ireland in a repressive & sometimes violent way. I know people who were caned brutally at young ages for the simple error of getting a word wrong in Irish. That was up until the 80s/90s and under the augurs of a violently repressive and punitive Catholic education system. The educational system is now more humane, inclusive and encouraging. Gaelic is now very popular among many young people, though still not widely spoken on this island. Many older people still have a negative view on the language, even though it is our own, unique tongue & pre-dates the colonial period of the last 1000 years by four or five thousand years.
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