The Status of the Irish Language: A Legal Perspective by Tomas O'Maille (393)

Published 1990: First Edition / Hardcover / Excellent Condition / Dual Text - Irish - English

Original blue leather covers with gilt tiles all round. 84 as new very clean and bright pages. A very scarce publication.

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The Status of the Irish language - A Legal Perspective / Stádas na Gaeilge - Dearcadh Dlíthiúil. Bilingual Edition. Dublin, Bord na Gaeilge

Tomás Ó Máille (1880–1938), Irish scholar and professor of Irish at University College Galway (UCG), was born 30 March 1880 in Muintir Eoin near Leenaun, Co. Galway, the second youngest of nine surviving children of Micheál Ó Máille, sheep farmer, and his wife, Sorcha Joyce. Two of his brothers – Micheál (c.1880–1911) and Pádraig Ó Máille (qv) – were also prominent figures in the Irish-language movement. Micheál, an author, published Eochaidh Mac Ríogh ’n Éirinn (1904), Naoi ngábhadh an ghiolla dhuibh (1917) and Diarmuid Donn (1936). Tomás received his early education at home. His father and uncles had hired a schoolmaster, Pádhraic Ó Máille (Peaitsín Pheige), to educate their families, each paying him £10 per annum, until the notorious Lord Leitrim (qv) ordered them to discontinue his employment. This occurred before Tomás had begun his education and as a result his oldest sister Caitlín and other elder siblings, who had been taught by Pheige, instructed him. He matriculated in 1902 and attended University College Dublin (UCD), graduating Bachelor of Arts (BA) (Royal University of Ireland (RUI)) in Irish, English, mathematics, and maths-physics in 1905. He won an Oireachtas na Gaeilge award for a geography essay in 1903 and continued his connection with the oireachtas throughout his life, acting as an adjudicator.

Ó Máille was on friendly terms with Patrick Pearse (qv) as well as other prominent members of the republican movement and along with Séamas Ó Beirn, he accompanied Sir Roger Casement (qv) on his Connemara tour in April 1914. Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) reports on the movements of Casement from that time refer to Ó Máille as ‘a prominent Sinn Féiner’. A member of the Irish Volunteers, he spent much of the war of independence on the run and commanded the Connemara flying column. The Ó Máille family home in Muintir Eoin often functioned as the column headquarters. Tomás was present during an early morning raid on the house by the RIC on 23 April 1921. The flying column (twenty-four men in total), had taken up position there and a shootout ensued that lasted for twelve hours. The house and its outhouses were afterwards burned in reprisal. An account of the incident is in Ó Máille's An tIomaire Ruadh (1939), published posthumously.

Ó Máille's first publication, Amhráin chlainne Gaedheal (1905), was a collection of songs compiled with his brother Micheál in the Corr na Móna area of Connemara. His other publications include Amhráin Chearbhalláin (1916), An ghaoth aniar (1920), Mac Dathó (1924), Urlabhraidheacht agus graiméar na Gaedhilge (1927), Mícheál Mac Suibhne agus filidh an tsléibhe (1934), Filidh Chonamara (1934), Diarmaid donn (ed. 1936) and An béal beo (1936). He also co-edited a number of works and was assistant editor of Sgéalaidhe Leitir Mealláin (1926) and Sgéalta na nOileáin (1929), both by Peadar Ó Direáin. Along with Micheál Breathnach (qv), he prepared the textbook Irish in 30 lessons (1928), for the Linguaphone course. In addition, he published articles in scholarly journals such as Ériu, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, Archivium Hibernicum, Lia fáil, Études Celtique and Transactions of the International Phonetic Congress (London, 1935). Together with his brother Pádraig, Eoin MacNeill (qv), Pádraig Ó Conaire (qv) and Pierce McCann he was a founding member of An Stoc, a monthly publication, and acted as editor from 1917 to 1920 and in 1923 and 1931. Amongst his contributions to the journal was a series entitled ‘Tearmaigheacht na meadhon-Ghaedhilge’ published from April to May 1927.

Ó Máille was widely read in the Irish language and in his works drew from a vast range of sources both Old and Modern Irish. An advocate of the equal status of the various Irish dialects in a standard written Irish, he opposed the prominence given to the Munster dialect by the Free State government. He was also particularly interested in the spoken language and collected words and phrases from throughout the Connacht Gaeltachts. He was a member of a number of learned bodies: the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), the National University of Ireland (NUI) Senate, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI) and the Honourable Cymmrodorion Society. The NUI awarded him a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) in 1928.

https://www.dib.ie/biography/o-maille-tomas-a6397