Pegley, Suzanne
(2007)
The Development and Consolidation
of the Gaeltacht Colony
Rath Cairn, Co. Meath
1935-1948.
Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
In 1935 a Gaeltacht Colony was created in the townland of Rath Cairn, Co Meath,
when twenty-seven Irish speaking families, comprising 182 individuals, arrived at
their new homes on fully equipped farms. After Fianna Fail had achieved an
overall majority in the wake of the 1933 election, they turned to resolving the
overcrowding and poverty in the west of Ireland. In the immediate post
independent period the newly formed Irish state was anxious to establish an
identity separate from the previous colonial power and language was one way to
do it. By combining the land and language question, Fianna Fail dealt with both
of the significant political issues of the time. This new development in migration,
established by Fianna Fail, recognised that a huge political credibility would be
achieved if they were to alleviate the congestion on farms in the western counties
and spread the Irish language. Within the context of the wider land reform
policies they perceived that migration was the most effective method of approach
and they implemented a suggestion made some four years previously in the
Gaeltacht Commission Report of 1927. This was ground breaking social
engineering and against some opposition, fertile grasslands of the midlands were
acquired and the land divided into small farms which would become the first
Gaeltacht colony. Despite the expense and attention to detail the project, as this
thesis will show, was fundamentally flawed.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(Masters)
|
| Keywords: |
Gaeltacht Colony;
Rath Cairn; Co.Meath;
1935-1948; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > History |
| Item ID: |
5124 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
08 Jul 2014 16:07 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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