Irish language debates in RTÉ in the 1960s: Insights from the archives of Conradh na Gaeilge and the Language Freedom Movement (LFM)
ABSTRACT
This essay will provide a historical analysis of the role of the Irish language, and of the revival policy, in Teilifís Éireann during the 1960s, when the national broadcaster was in its infancy. It is argued that there was a conflict between the statutory duties of Teilifís Éireann in relation to the national aims (the revival of the Irish language, for example) and the role of the broadcaster to facilitate debates pertaining to the major social issues of the time (Bowman 2011; Savage 2010). These debates around language and identity occurred during a period of immense social change and modernisation in the 1960s when the traditional values on which the state was established began to be questioned and sidelined: preoccupations with the civil war, economic protectionism, partition, and language revival (Ferriter 2007; Brown 2004; Garvin 2004).
Television has had many consequences on society since the 1960s. Bowman (2011: 227) argues that the emergence of television provided a platform for various groups to exchange ideas and knowledge, and to robustly debate controversial political and social issues of the time: the Irish language, the role of the church in society, and contraception (Garvin 2004: 274). The Late Late Show was a ‘national forum’ in which some of these debates were convened (Bowman 2011: 227). This essay will focus on the language question and on the role played by Gay Byrne as a facilitator of these debates about the Irish language.
In late-modernity, Giddens (1991) acknowledges the importance and value of knowledge and how that knowledge is disseminated. The Irish language movement and the LFM were acutely aware of the symbolic power that could be harnessed through the medium of television. To that end, the Irish language movement wished to highlight the virtues and cultural importance of language through the dissemination of Irish language programming. On the other hand, the LFM sought to use the medium to challenge the state’s revival policy. As the Irish language movement and the LFM wished to achieve different aims in their dealings with the media, there was often conflict and tension between them and Teilifís Éireann during the 1960s. These tensions and ideological conflicts will be brought to the fore by drawing upon archival sources of Conradh na Gaeilge (G60) and of the LFM (G44). These collections are both held at the University of Galway.
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