Mayo man Colmán Ó Raghallaigh recently won Irish language Book of the Year Award for Young People for his graphic comic- book styled novel “An Táin”. Ó Raghaillaigh, who is also an Irish language publisher, picked up a non- too -shabby cheque for €10,000 which was presented to him by playwright Brian Friel at the annual event held in Derry.
The book is based on the old Irish tale of the “Táin Bó Cuailgne”- the cattle raid on Ulster. The story revolves around the jealousy of Queen Maebh of Connaught who gathers together a large army to capture the most famous bull in Ulster. The original story can be found in the Book of Leinster dating back to c1106.
Ó Raghallaigh lives in the town of Claremorris in Co. Mayo and founded the publishing house Cló Mhaigh Eo with his wife in 1995. He has written many Irish language novels for children and teenagers, including comics such as the most recent An Táin. Despite the success of Cló Mhaigh Eo, Ó Raghallaigh hasn’t given up his day job as an Irish teacher:
“Is gá dúinn na postanna lae a choinneáil le bheith beo. Cuireann sin srianta forbartha orainn gan dabht. Tá an fhoireann beag mar nach acmhainn dúinn daoine eile a fhostú”.
In English:
“We need to keep our day jobs in order to survive. Without a doubt that constrains our development. The team is small because we can’t afford to employ more people”, he says.
Ó Raghallaigh’s visions for the future of the Irish language include:
- That it is taught properly and professionally in primary and secondary schools.
-That there be a slight change in the secondary level curriculum so that students are really learning the language rather than pretending to as is the case now.
- That Irish become a working language in the Dáil
- That it be recognised as an official language of the EU (as achieved in January 2007)
