Irish Language

Irish Culture

BORD NA MÓNA FACTORY OPENING – Amharc Éireann: Eagrán 126

24th August 2016

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Erskine Childers, Minister for Transport and Power, attends the official opening of the new Bord na Móna factory at Croghan in Co. Offaly in 1961. This newsreel documents the Minister and other dignitaries in attendance at the factory opening which heralded the creation of over 100 new jobs and the capacity to produce 100,000 peat […]

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Dublin Students Protest – Amharc Éireann: Eagrán 126

24th August 2016

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November 1961 and students from Trinity College marched the main streets of Dublin in protest at nuclear bomb testing. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, CND, was established in the UK in 1958 in the wake of widespread fear of conflict and the effects of nuclear testing. CND quickly grew with branches in Scotland, Wales and […]

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1980s-2000s

Lipservice

22nd August 2016

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The Oral Irish, a compulsory language exam dreaded by secondary school students, is the subject of this short directed by Paul Mercier. In a Dublin school, an examiner (Sean McGinley) meets a variety of students to test their proficiency in the Irish language. He encounters low levels of fluency but impressive levels of bravado as […]

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Drama

Yu Ming is Ainm Dom

22nd August 2016

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Tired of his dead-end supermarket job, Yu Ming (Daniel Wu) decides to learn Irish and leave his home country of China for a new life overseas. With a simple spin of a globe he decides that Ireland will be his new home. When he researches Irish culture and learns that Gaelic is the country’s official […]

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Drama

AQUA

22nd August 2016

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An Irish language short film, Aqua tells the tale of Nick and Laura, an enterprising young couple, who plan to record the sounds of Irish rivers and sell them to the Irish-American market claiming it has soothing powers. Directed by Edel O’Brien, this film looks at the flipside of Celtic Tiger Ireland when greed was […]

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Drama

Clare Sa Spéir

22nd August 2016

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A neglected and overworked housewife reaches her record-breaking point.  Attempting to break a world record, mother and wife Clare is determined to live in a tree for 32 days. In her absence, her reluctant husband is forced to take on the heavy burden of her domestic duties. Meanwhile, despite the obstacles of torrential rain, loneliness […]

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Gearrscannáin

Voyage to Recovery (Turas Téarnaimh)

22nd August 2016

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A young man (Joe Lynch) contracts tuberculosis to the dismay of his wife (Joan O’Hara) and to the shame of her aunt (Marie Keane). He recovers following a long spell convalescing in a tuberculosis sanatorium. A public information film infused with tension and humour and directed by actor/playwright Gerard Healy, this dramatized film looks at […]

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1930s-1960s

Stop Thief (Coisc an Gadaí)

22nd August 2016

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One of a series of dramatised public information films commissioned by the Department of Health and directed here by actor/playwright Gerard Healy. A young Dublin girl becomes gravely ill with diphtheria and her parents are filled with remorse for their failure to immunise her. The aim of this film, commissioned by the Department of Health, […]

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Entertainment

Where Does The Money Go? (Cá n-Imíonn an t’Airgead)

22nd August 2016

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One of a series of public information films directed with verve and humour by actor/playwright Gerard Healy. This film was commissioned by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in the impoverished years of the 1950s, in an attempt to encourage Irish spendthrifts to mend their frivolous ways. The film’s intention was to encourage people to […]

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Irish Culture

BRITTAS BAY – Amharc Éireann: Eagrán 240

22nd August 2016

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This newsreel from 1964 shows work being carried out on the beached ship Seabank on Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. Built in 1935, the ship was sold to Irish International Shipping after it became beached on March 4th at Ardanairy in County Wicklow. The four-ton cargo ship had been a fixture on the beach front and […]

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Travelling People – Amharc Éireann: Eagrán 80

22nd August 2016

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On 1st of December 1960, Gardaí visited every traveller caravan in the country on behalf of a commission set up by the Government to investigate the case of the Knights of the Road. The camp which was full of barrel-topped caravans with exquisite wooden carvings and decorative painted exteriors, was located in Cherry Orchard just […]

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Gearrscannáin

Fur of the Future – Amharc Éireann: Eagrán 80

22nd August 2016

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Moriarty makes his debut at the show where 100s of chinchillas are exhibited and judged. However, unlike the tribunal, poor Moriarty will not be able to avoid his fate. P.J. Holland, a judge from Wales, inspected the coats and assessed the quality of the fur. Judges from all over world came to these shows to […]

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