The joys of a midweek lunch with 11 Gaelgeoirs

Last Thursday, May 7 between the hours of 1pm and 2pm, I experienced a most traumatic situation while attending a ‘Lón Gaeilge’ in The Western Strands Hotel, Belmullet, Co Mayo.

For the uninitiated, the occasion was a lunch where the conversation was conducted in Irish.

My first shock came when I realised that I was the only person present in a group of 12 who was not actually bilingual. My second was when I discovered the youngest person there — aged four I’d guess — who was happily colouring a picture book, knew more Irish than I did.