J 1 - Comhaltas Archive

were self supporting and the teachers
made their living by them, which some
were aided with grants of land by the
chiefs of the districts in which the schools
were situated.
The convention of Druim Ceata,
presided over by Saint Columcille,
a.d.S74, reorganised the system of public
secular eduation, so far as it was
represented in the Bardic schools or
those for general education. The bards
being a highly privileged class, not
confining themselves to their official
duties, became greedy and oppressive
even to the extent that the high king
Aedh macAinmire expelled them from his
palace. He accused them a the convention
and with his chiefs sought the abolition of
the Bardic Order for ever. Saint Columcille
defended them, saying that he did
not deny the existence of grave abuses -
let them be corrected - and in future let
the guilty be punished. If the Order was
destroyed he asked who would then
preserve the records of the nation -
celebrate the great deeds of it's kings and
warriors - or chant a dirge for the noble
dead. His eloquence carried the assembly
with him and the Order was preserved
from destruction. It was, however,
reformed and restrained by salutary laws
which prevented repitition of past irregularities.
In gratitude to Columcille the
'Ard Ollamh', or chief poet of all Ireland,
Dallan Forgaill , composed the celebrated
poem Amhra Cholmcille. The
convention devised a scheme by which
there was to be a chief school or college
for each of the five provinces and under
these a number of minor schools, one in
each tuath or cantred. They were all
endowed with lands; and those who
needed it should get free education in
them. The head of each of these schools
was an ollamh of poetry and literature,
all laymen. Many of them, as time went
on, became noted for the excellence of
their teaching in subjects more or less
special, according to the individual
taste or bent of mind of the teachers or
the traditions of the several schools.
The Bardic schools survived through
many centuries of invasion and
oppression. They struggled on despite the
rigour of the penal laws and it was only in
the early seventeenth century, after
Kinsale, that the old Order came to an
end.
4
Comholbrlu' ar son na T:eanga
Roghnai'odh Craobh Ardscoil Ris, C.C.E. ,
le haghaidh tionscadail teanga faoi
leith d'fhonn an dui chun cinn agus na
deacrachta( a bhaineann leis an
bplean forbartha chun usaid na Gaeilge
in eagras naisiunta a mheas agus a sharu
faoi stiuradh choiste saineolaithe.
Ta Bord na Gaeilge agus an
chraobh tar eis plean a dhreachtadh i
gcomhar lena cheile. Ti an Bord tar eis
cabhair a thabhairt don Chraobh freisin
chun aiseanna teiliflse agus uirlisl ceoil
a cheannach mar chuidiu ina cuid
imeachtai agus i bhforbairt usaid na
Gaeilge.
Faoin plean seo, deanfaidh an Chraobh
usaid na Gaeilge a chur chun cinn i
ngnlomhruochta( agus i measc comhaltru
na Craoibhe, cabhrG le leathnU' na
Gaeilge i dtuaisceart na cathrach trt
chomhoibriu le dreamanna eile,
agus treoir a thabhairt i leith leathnu na
Gaeilge i gcraobhacha eile an
Chomhaltais.
I measc prtomhphoint( an phlean
ta:-
Comchoiste Gaeilge a bhunu -
cuirfear failte roimh ionadaithe 0 scoil-
~
eanna agus colais!! " Gaelacha sa chomharsanacht
mar aon le hionadaithe 0
eagralochta( eile ar sPeis leo an Ghaeilge
a usiild ina gcuid gnfOmhalocht~(
Clar oibre a leagadh amach gach raithe
agus tuairisc a chur ar fail de Bhord
Chontae Atha Cliath den Chomhaltas
agus do Bhord na Gaeilge chun meastoireacht
a dheanamh ar an dui chun cinn.
Tus a chur le ranganna ceoil agus rince
tr( Ghaeilge agus speis iontu a chothu.
Tcipeanna agus tearmal Gaeilge a chur ar
fail mar chabhair do na muinteoin.
Timpeallacht Ghaeilge a chothu -
oiread Gaeilge agus is feldir a usrud go
nadurtha agus seisiui~ ceili the srI.;
bolscaireach t, postaein, ticeid( agus
comhfhreagras na Craoibhe a bheith tn
Ghaeilge no datheangach.
An Chraobh a chur i dteagmhrul le
muintir na Gaeltachta agus le saol
Gae~ch ~ . cathrach agus pairt
ghmomhach a ghlacadh ann.
Teagmhiil le Colmste OiliU'na Mhuire
(Cola'iste Oiliuna na mBriiithre CnostaJj
a leathnu.
••
Polasa( Gaeilge a chur chun cinn in iris
na Craoibhe "Sceala".
., I',ia ranganna.,. Gaeilge ata ar siul faoi
lathair a mheadu agus a leathnu.
Ranganna a chur ar fili, don aos ag, do
dhaoine fasta agus do mhuinteoiri sa
Chraobh at'! as cleachtadh na Gaeilge.
Ta suil ag an mBord go
mbeidh eolas tabhachtach le fail aige
on tionscadal seo maidir le treoirlinte
a aimsiu chun labhairt na Gaeilge a
fhorbairt ar bhonn leathan i measc eagras
eile. Ta speis ag Comhaltas sa
ghno freisin, d'fhonn an Ghaeilge a
leathnG in imeachta(craobhacha eile den
eagras sin .
AG TEACHT ABHAILE
One of the greatest of traditional
Irish singers, Seosamh 0 hEanai, is leaving
the United States after a stay of 14
years to settle once more in Ireland.
At present he is giving farewell concerts
at various centres on the east coast and in
the mid-west and truly packing them
in.
After his successful "Farewell Chicago
Concert" the music critic of a prominent
Chicago paper wrote, "No amount of
farewells to J oe Heaney can ever take
away the impact he has made on
America." This is astonishing praise
indeed for a singer that has yet to receive
full recognition in his own land.
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65 Cricklewood Broadway, London
N.W.2. TeI: 014529456.
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