The return of the ‘Pop Up Gaeltacht’

A third ‘Pop Up Gaeltacht’ will take place in Teddy O'Connor's bar on August 25.

Based on previous events, where numbers have been steadily increasing, organiser James Knoblauch has decided to go ahead with a third meeting. At the first Pop Up, they had about 30 in attendance. At the second one, around 50 turned up.

There was a great mix of all levels of fluency, from learners using a ‘cúpla focal’, to native Irish speakers from the Gaeltacht.

Several sixth year students from St Brendan’s College used the last meeting to prepare for their Leaving exams.

“What stood out to all who attended was the mix of old and young there and the positive attitude the younger attendees held towards the language, without the baggage the older generations might have had,” James told the Killarney Advertiser.

“One lady commented to me that it had to be the largest gathering of locals in Killarney speaking Irish in several hundred years. Not sure how accurate that claim is, but certainly encouraged us to continue with the Pop Ups.”

“Given the reaction from the first two Pop Up Gaeltachtaí, we can see there is definitely a demand for Irish language events in Killarney and occasions to bring together the Irish speaking community in the town. We intend to continue with the Pop Up Gaeltacht, but we'd also like to expand beyond events in a pub setting and continue to grow the community.”