Coláisde Bhrighde 1912

Coláiste Bhríde was established in September 1912 with Sir Henry Bellingham as Honorary President in the Omeath Gaeltacht, one of the last Irish-speaking enclaves on the east of the country. Among the teaching staff was Peadar O’Dubhda, for many decades a local driving force behind Gaelic revivalism and Eoin MacNéill, who in 1913 became one of the founders of the Irish Volunteer Force. Other prominent visitors to the Omeath Gaeltacht were Douglas Hyde, Patrick Pearse and Alice Stopford-Green. The yearly influx of students failed to halt the decline of the Irish language in Omeath, and by 1926 the college, retaining its name, moved to Rannafast, Co Donegal, where it still thrives, and is still popular with students and teachers from Co Louth. It is recorded that the last native Irish speaker in Co Louth was Anna Uí Annluain (Anna O’Hanlon) from Omeath who died in 1969 aged 96.

Omeath-1912-B-Copy