Ulster Gaeilge: Gail

Gail McCune, a Protestant from East Belfast, tells her story of discovering the Irish language.

Ulster Gaeilge: It’s Yours Too! is a series of short animations that aims to show the many and different ways in which people in East Belfast and beyond are engaging with the Irish Language. Each animation is one story from one learner who has passed through the doors of Turas, an Irish language school and cultural organisation located at the Skainos Centre on the Newtownards Road in East Belfast.

Irish is a language that is part of a larger family of Celtic languages that includes Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Manx and Cornish. The language belongs to anyone who is interested in it and this is reflected in the diversity of voices and stories contained in the Ulster Gaeilge: It’s Yours Too! collection.

With these stories, it is hoped that our understanding of Irish – and the kinds of people who learn it, and why they learn it – will be widened and more nuanced.