Over the month of March, a host of activities for pupils of all ages to highlight Seachtain na Gaeilge and to promote our Irish language and culture throughout St Paul’s were organised.

Year 8s competed in a poster competition and had a chance to gain a cúpla focal badge to show their achievement in Irish so far.

All of Year 9 took part in a Tráth na gCeist with prizes for 1st/ 2nd/ 3rd placed teams. Year 10 students availed of the chance to gain a fáinne airgid to show a high degree of fluency in the language.

A very special event was organised for Years 12/13/14 Irish students. They attended a careers seminar with local Gaeilgeoir and T.V. presenter Tómaí Ó Conghaile. The Irish department would like to thank Tómaí for this, it proved to be a resounding success with the students.

The week culminated on Thursday 19th March, the Irish department organised an Irish mass followed by a Céilí in the evening. The Irish department would like to thank Fr Dermot for the beautiful mass as Gaeilge and Kathleen for the lovely singing.

The céilí was a truly unique experience as it was attended by delegates from School 7 in Russia that were visiting St Paul’s last week. Along with all our céilí dances, everyone at the céilí got a chance to learn a Russian dance accompanied by The Gold Ring Céilí Band that had to learn to play Russian music very quickly. We raised money on the night which will now be used for scholarships for students going to the Gaeltacht this summer. The Irish department would especially like to thank Catherine Mc Anulty who did a great job as Bean an Tí and to Sean O’Neill who played the music.

See below for a highlights video from the Céilí Mór.

See below for a selection of photos from the Céilí Mór.