Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht

Articles30/07/2008

The Land Commission obtained some land in Meath and twenty-seven families took up the offer presented by the government: a Land Commission house, a twenty-two acre farm with basic farm tools, a horse, a sow and piglets for every family that moved to County Meath. Most of these families came from the islands or from An Ceathrú Rua (Carraroe); these were dense settlements with insufficient resources to support the local people. In 1937 eleven more families moved to Ráth Chairn; in total four hundred and forty-three people left Connemara for County Meath, and after the government provided houses, farms and a National School, this new community was left to fend for itself and to grow naturally. This was one of the most revolutionary and far-sighted schemes in either resettlement or language preservation ever undertaken.

Although all the residents of this new settlement moved from the Connemara Gaeltacht and therefore spoke Irish, it was not until 1967 that Ráth Chairn recieved official Gaeltacht status. A few years after this, Ráth Chairn Co-Operation Society was founded to plan long-term for the small village, which has only a primary school, a secondary school, a community centre, a church, playing fields and a few shops.