Welcome to the Tionscadal Béaloidis Ghaeltacht Thír Chonaill website. This website contains hundreds of oral recordings involving interviews with 230 people from the Donegal Gaeltacht. This collection, which was carried out between 2006 and 2011, has captured a snapshot of times past and the reminiscences, remembrances, stories and anecdotes of an older generation who experienced and lived through the significant (and sometimes turbulent) societal changes of the twentieth century. From the working life of native Irish speakers on the farm or the bog or the island, to issues of emigration and American wakes, Saintly prophesies, stories about fairies, superstitions and ancient cures – virtually all aspects of life in a different era are discussed.
In its entirety, the collection holds around 380 hours of interviews. Most of the interviews are in Irish but there are also a few interviews that were carried out in English.
The website is searchable by topic, geographic area, interviewee name, or keyword enabling researchers to focus in on specific areas of interest to them.
Researchers with Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge in Gaoth Dobhair have over the past five years undertaken a folklore project involving interviews with 230 people from the Donegal Gaeltacht and the collection of 380 hours of recorded conversations with them. Dónall Dinny Ó Gallchóir conducted the interviews and covered an area from as far afield as Fánaid to Gleann Cholm Cille and from An Clochán and Baile na Finne to Cloich Cheann Fhaola, Gaoth Dobhair and Na Rosa – a vast and varied geographic area which contains a rich cultural and linguistic heritage.
Oral collections such as this project not only help to preserve the wealth of traditions, knowledge and histories of these areas but also their distinctive and unique language aspects and dialects. Occupational activities and changes – and the language used to describe them – are also documented and show us how the lives and livelihoods of the likes of the farmer and the fisherman have changed or even disappeared over the last 80 to 100 years.
The second phase of the project – the process of digitising, cataloguing and archiving the interviews onto computer – has enabled the fruits of the project to become widely accessible to all members of the community. All interviews were digitally recorded onto computer by Anna Ní Pheanróis and Gráinne Uí Dhomhnaill. The digitised recordings were then categorised according to the topics spoken about by the interviewees. This resulted in almost 3,500 separate pieces of interview, each of which were slotted into one of the 14 folklore categories as defined by the eminent Irish folklorist Seán Ó Súilleabháin in the 1940s.
We hope that the collection and its accessibility will appeal to a wide range of interests – from the local social historian to academic researchers of Irish and international folklore, social history, linguistics and Irish language dialects. Indeed with some of the interviews transcribed, it will also be a useful tool for learners of the Irish language who will have the facility to both listen to and read those transcribed interviews at the same time and thus increasing their understanding and learning of the Ulster dialect.
Téarmaí & Coinníollacha | © Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh 2011