Local Faces: Éamonn Ó hÓgáin

“We always spoke Irish amongst ourselves. My mother would speak Irish to us and of course people used to mock us at the time because it wasn’t popular or fashionable, but we used to say, ‘we are the Joneses, we set the trend’ – it came naturally to us.”

Éamonn studied Irish and economics in UCC, and went on to complete a PHD in UCD, with his academic specialities being the lexicon of West Kerry Irish and eighteen century Irish poetry. It was in UCD where he met his wife, Bríd, who was studying commerce at the time.

After his studies, Éamonn went on to work as an assistant editor on Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla and as a senior editor in the Department of Education and Historical Dictionary of Modern Irish, and later as editor of the Historical Dictionary of Modern Irish being compiled in the Royal Irish Academy.

“I came to Dublin and I was working in the Department of Education on publications with Niall Ó Dónaill and when Niall retired, I was put in charge of publications in the Department of Education, and I was there for about 10 to 12 years.

Éamonn Ó hÓgáin

“Things worked out alright and Bríd and I got married and we had five children, things were always lively in the house.”

Éamonn and wife Bríd spoke only Gaeilge in their household to their five children growing up – Cúán, Dónall, Ruairí, Máire Aoibhinn and Fionnán.

“We both speak Irish to our children always, I think that if you want to learn the language you must speak it yourself first.

“It’s funny because our children picked up their English from the neighbour’s children. I remember one day I was up in the shop and my wife was in the shop and somebody came along and asked one of my children, ‘where’s your mother’? and they said, ‘she’s inside in the shop throwing money.’ If you are an Irish speaker you know that ‘ag caitheamh airgid’ is spending money but it’s the same word for throwing.”

Éamonn Ó hÓgáin was born in Dorset, England in 1937 to parents from North Kilkenny. Éamonn says Irish was always the natural language for them to speak in the household

Éamonn explains that he returned to Monastery Road in Clondalkin as he was enticed by a friend he knew from University through the Irish-speaking societies.

 There is a large Irish-speaking community based in Clondalkin, which has been steadily increasing due to the efforts of the members of Áras Chrónáin, who encourage members of the community to use cúpla focail in their everyday lives.

“We came to Clondalkin because we said we would feel at home there, that’s the reason we came out here. You get a lot of people that speak Irish in Clondalkin, it is quite a large number.

“We have very good neighbours here, we get on very well. Next door, their children speak Irish to me always and the other side is a man from Scotland and his wife speaks Irish to us.

Éamonn Ó hÓgáin

“I go up to the shop in the morning to get the newspaper and speak to the shopkeeper in Irish or go to the shop to buy food and there’s people that have Irish, there’s no bother at all. You get people in every community that speaks Irish if you listen.”

Éamonn also has a keen interest in hurling and has been deeply involved in the Round Towers GAA throughout the years.

“I was very interested in hurling so when my young lads reached five or six, I got hurleys for them. I couldn’t see anyone with a hurley in Clondalkin at the time, so we used to go to The Phoenix Park where I taught them to swing the hurley, pick up the ball and raise the ball.

“We were up on the field one day and I saw a man on the other side of the field with a young lad and he had a hurley as well. So, I went over and he was a Cork man that was teaching his lad how to play as well. We approached Round Towers, which became our home for hurling and we were accepted in there.

“We did a lot of hurling, it was our game, it’s a natural game for us. I got to know a lot of young people through hurling and I am still friends with them.”

According to Éamonn, some people can have a narrow-minded approach when they hear someone speaking the native language, especially outside of Ireland.

“It’s interesting if you are abroad – we used to go camping a lot throughout France and there was one time we were camping in the middle of France and we had the tent up and all that, next thing a man comes along in a big car, with the tri-colour up.

“He was trying to put up his tent and I said to Bríd that I would go over and give him a hand. I said ‘dia duit, conas atá tú?’. ‘Forget that bloody language’ he said.

“I said alright and I turned by back and I got great pleasure in seeing him struggling for hours and had to leave the place in the end, great satisfaction, you’ll get some narrow minded-people.

“When we have people come in, we tell them that we are an Irish speaking household, we speak Irish amongst ourselves, don’t think we are being ignorant or talking about you if we speak irish in your presence.

“Some English speakers only expect you to speak English in their presence. Imagine me going, ‘you must speak Irish in my presence’.

“It’s part of ourselves, it’s part of our history and why shouldn’t we retain our language? We are an independent nation and it’s our natural language.”

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