Is é Blein ny Gaelgey (bliain na Manainnise) é i mbliana ar an Oileán Mhanann. Is é aidhm na bliana íomhá dhearfach den Mhanainnis a spreagadh agus daoine a chur á húsáid ar bhonn laethúil.

Anuas air sin, tá sé i gceist cruthaíocht, foghlaim agus féiniúlacht sa teanga a spreagadh chun bonn níos láidre a chur faoin Manainnis. Chuige sin cuirfear imeachtaí ar bun amhail ceardlanna sa teanga, ceolchoirmeacha, agus seisiúin amhránaíochta. Chomh maith leis sin cruthófar podchraoladh agus múrphictiúir nua, i dteanna tionscadail chruthaíochta eile.

Ceann de na fáthanna go bhfuil Blein ny Gaelgey á ceiliúradh i mbliana ná go bhfuil 25 bliain caite ó bunaíodh Bunscoill Ghaelgagh in 2001.

D’éirigh an bhunscoil as grúpaí naíonra ar nós Chied Chesmayd (an chéad chéim), a bunaíodh in 1993, agus Mooinjer Veggey (muintir bheaga) a bunaíodh in 1996. Ghlac an dream a bhunaigh an eagraíocht inspioráid ón méid a bhí ar bun le grúpaí spraoi in Albain ag deireadh na 1980í. Chruthaigh an grúpa naíonra éileamh ar bhunscolaíocht de réir a chéile.

Bunaíodh Sheshaght ny Paarantyn (cumann na dtuismitheoirí) in 1999 agus é mar aidhm bunscoil Mhanainnise a chur ar an bhfód, agus an bhliain sin chuaigh siad i dtreo na Roinne Oideachais lena n-iarratas.

D’oscail an scoil i mí Mheán Fómhair 2001 mar shruth, rang amháin i Scoil Bhaile an Choiteora in Doolish, príomhchathair an oileáin, agus naonúr páistí ag freastal uirthi. In 2003 bhog an scoil go dtí a foirgneamh féin i seanscoil Naomh Eoin i lár an oileáin.

Bhí cúig dhalta is fiche ann roinnte idir dhá rang faoin tráth sin. Bhí formhór na ndaltaí ag teacht ó naíonra Mooinjer Veggey go fóill. Faoi 2006 ba scoil neamhspleách í Bhunscoill Ghaelgagh lena príomhoide féin.

Ó shin i leith tá forbairt tagtha ar an scoil; tá ceithre rang ann anois le daltaí d’aoiseanna éagsúla agus ó cheantair éagsúla ar fud an oileáin.

In 2020, ghlac Rialtas Oileán Mhanann freagracht iomlán as Bunscoill Ghaelgagh, rud a thug an ceart don scoil rochtain a fháil ar sheirbhísí riachtanas speisialta. Tá thart ar 70 dalta ag freastail ar an mbunscoil sa lá atá inniu ann.

Is féidir leo dul ar aghaidh go meánscoil i bPurt ny h-Inshey chun cúpla ábhar a dhéanamh tríd an Mhanainnis agus macasamhail Teastas Ginearálta an Mheánoideachas, Teisht Chadjin Ghaelgagh, a dhéanamh.

Dár le Stiúrthóir Mooinjer Veggey, Phil Gawne, tá Bunscoill Ghaelgagh tar éis 170 dalta atá líofa sa teanga a chruthú agus “cinniúint na teanga a athrú ó bhonn”.

Is iontach an dul chun cinn atá déanta ag na Manannaigh, go háirithe le scór bliain anuas. Bhí thart ar 8% den daonra ag labhairt na teanga in 1901; 4.8% in 1911; 1.5% in 1921; 1% in 1931, agus 0.5% in 1951. Faoi na 1980í bhí cúrsaí chomh dona sin nár cuireadh ceist faoin teanga sa daonáireamh.

Bhí borradh faoin náisiúnachas ar an oileán sna 1970í agus 80í, rud a spreag suim arís sa teanga. Faoi 2021, bhí an teanga ag thart ar 2% den oileán, nó 2,200 cainteoirí de chumais éagsúla ann.

Mheas an tsochtheangeolaí Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin, in 2010 go raibh thart ar 100 cainteoir d’ardchumas ar an oileán. Ar an drochuair, ní chuirtear ceist sa daonáireamh faoi mhinicíocht.

Tionscadal fiúntach é Blein ny Gaelgey do chur chun cinn na Manainnise. Ach cosúil le gach tír Cheilteach eile, agus gach pobal mionteanga eile lena, caithfear aghaidh a thabhairt ar na bunrudaí ábharaíocha chun pobal teanga a chothú.

Fadhbanna ollmhóra iad an t-eisimirce agus cúrsaí tithíochta don aos óg ar an Oileán Mhanainn. Déantar cainteoirí Manainnise a chothú in Bhunscoill Ghaelgagh agus ar bhealaí eile, ach imíonn siad le sruth nuair nach féidir leo poist fhiúntacha ná áit chónaithe réasúnta a fháil ar an oileán.

De réir dhaonáireamh 2021 rugadh 49.6% de chónaitheoirí an oileáin ar an Oileán Mhanann, ach rugadh 38.3% sa Ríocht Aontaithe. Déanann cuid de na Sasanaigh a bhogann isteach imeascadh, ach breathnaíonn cuid eile acu ar an oileán mar chontae eile de Shasana. 

Mar sin tá gá le hathrú polasaí tithíochta chun tacú leis an Manainnis agus aos óg an oileáin, rud atá fíor faoi na tíortha Ceilteacha ar fad.

Thiar in 2020, shínigh dream ar Oileán Mhanainn, Cymdeithas na Breataine Bige, Misneach na hÉireann, agus Misneachd in Albain Cairt Cheilteach Tithíochta a leag amach spriocanna radacacha don tithíocht.

Ina measc bhí ardú ollmhór ar cháin ar an dara teach, rud a baineadh amach sa Bhreatain Bheag ach a chaithfear a chur thar abhainn go fóill sna tíortha eile.

Seo thíos litir a scríobh ball de chuid Misneach, Ben Ó Ceallaigh, a foilsíodh i nuachtán ar an Oileán Mhanann. Cé go mbaineann an t-ábhar le heachtra ar leith ar an oileán, tá lón machnaimh sa litir do gach éinne atá ag plé le cúrsaí frith-faisisteacha sa Ghaeltacht, sna tíortha Ceilteacha agus níos faide i gcéin.

The recent publicity given by The Isle of Man Examiner to a dangerous fascist group which is actively trying to recruit on the island, including reproducing their leaflets in full and distributing them on social media, shows a blatant disregard for the welfare of those targeted by fascists and a complete lack of understanding of how these ideas take root. Indeed, the front page of the paper was described by one of the leaders of the group as “amazing publicity” in a recent social media post.

While most readers will recognise fascist ideas for the bile that they are, it only takes a small percentage to be persuaded for people’s lives to be at very real risk. Famously, in the week after the leader of the fascist British National Party was disgraced on Question Time in 2009, 3,000 people applied to join the party – a tiny percentage of the eight million who watched, but a huge increase in absolute numbers for a fringe neo-nazi group. This is the risk of publicising ideas that present an existential threat to all that is decent in society. Across the world, laws proscribe hate speech, incitement to violence and other unacceptable actions such as marketing tobacco to children – very few people are truly “free speech absolutists” who oppose such measures. Likewise, such is the nature of the “paradox of tolerance”, as philosopher Karl Popper called it, that we must not extend freedom of speech to fascists, who will deny this very right to others at the first chance. Reproducing their propaganda and circulating it to a huge audience as The Isle of Man Examiner has done is politically illiterate and utterly ignorant of the nature of the fascist threat. This matter is especially serious given the context of the recent fearmongering about sex education in the QEII High School in Peel.

Groups such as the one recently reported on aim to sow division and hate, scapegoating the most vulnerable in society for problems which are caused by an economic system that makes the lives of so many so difficult. In presenting immigrants and refugees as responsible for issues such as the housing crisis or austerity, fascists serve as useful idiots for the powerful, distracting attention from the real source of people’s woes. As Max Horkheimer, a Jewish refugee from nazi Germany, famously wrote in 1939, “whoever is not prepared to talk about capitalism should also remain silent about fascism”.

As has often been noted, rather than beginning with death camps, fascism ends with them. By giving such an enormous platform to a nauseating white supremacist group, the Isle of Man Examiner has unwittingly contributed to the growth of this ideology, and in doing so put at risk immigrants, people of colour, LGBT+ people, trade unionists and many more who fall afoul of the disgusting ideas spread by fascist groups. Let this mistake not be made again, and all their propaganda removed from the paper’s online presence immediately.

Anti-fascism is self-defence. No pasarán – cha jed ad shaghey!

An Dr. Ben Ó Ceallaigh

Ollscoil Aberystwyth