The opening of a new Gaelscoil in the Tower/Blarney area of Cork next month will bring to 17 the number of all-Irish primary and secondary schools operating within and near the city. The student population of these schools now totals some 4,000 and there are Gaelscoileanna in almost every town in Co Cork.
The phenomenal success of the Gaelscoil movement is positive proof of the goodwill which exists towards the language, says Mr Padraig O Cuanachain of Gael-Taca, an organisation which seeks to support and build on the rapid development of education through Irish in Cork, using modern marketing techniques.
In conjunction with FAS, Gael-Taca operates an information bureau, supplying information to the public on Irish language courses, summer colleges, Gaelscoileanna, all-Irish nursery schools, as well as Irish place names and names in Irish for new housing estates.
The organisation approaches businesses involved in reconstruction, repainting, etc, seeking to have at least some Irish language signage included in the new look. From the evidence around Cork city, the policy is paying dividends as shopfronts and public houses are incorporating some Irish in their signs.
"This would have been regarded as remarkable 10 years ago, but it is now accepted as being normal," says Mr O Cuanachain, adding that many larger firms, such as Tesco, Woodies, Dunnes Stores, Easons, Ulster Bank, now have Irish built into their corporate image.
Throughout Munster, Gael-Taca, which is supported by a National Lottery grant administered by Roinn na Gaeltachta, does its best to persuade builders to adopt Irish names for new housing estates in place of the sometimes rather ridiculous and affected names evident everywhere in Ireland.
Mr O Cuanachain asks what relevance names such as Tuscany Downs, Windsor Downs and Marwood, have in an Irish setting. Marwood, the name of a new estate in Glanmire, Co Cork, he points out, was also the name of a public executioner in Victorian England.
"Now that the death penalty has rightly been abolished, it is highly ridiculous to have the name of a prominent Victorian executioner in England becoming part of the Irish landscape. Some excuse, however, can be made for the developers as there is no agency to help them in selecting a name and there are no regulations in law requiring new names to be sanctioned by the local authority. That will probably come eventually," says Mr O Cuanachain.
In the meantime Gael-Taca is offering its services to builders who may be unsure about what to do. The organisation will examine the site of a development and come up with an Irish name reflecting its history and surroundings rather than a pretentious English name that has no local association or relevance.
Some examples, Mr O Cuanachain suggests, might be Cois Cuan, Gleann Alainn, Lios na Greine, Ard na Mara and Dur na Sead.
Gael-Taca projects of special interest include one in Cork's English Market where an Irish language programme is promoted. Stalls where business can be conducted through Irish will be suitably identified and stallholders who wish to do so will be able to attend classes in conversational Irish.
At the same time, the organisation is encouraging the two local authorities in Cork city and county to give the Irish language a firm place in the new strategic area plan for the region. Specifically, Gael-Taca is recommending to Cork Corporation that Cork should be designated a bilingual city.