A NEW exhibition was launched during Féile an Phobail to celebrate the city's pioneering Irish language activists.
‘Saol Trí Ghaeilge – Saol Gan Bochtanas’, a project of archive group GaelStair funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, was launched on Thursday past in Conway Mill before an invited audience of Irish language advocates.
The exhibition details the story of the trailblazers from Cumann Chluain Ard from the 1930s to the 1960s who fought social, economic and political pressures to keep the language alive.
Their efforts have borne fruit iin Irish projects across Belfast including Coláiste Feirste, Áras Mhic Reachtain, Cultúrlann MacAdam-Ó Fiaich and Raidió Fáilte.
Spórtlann na hÉireann Chair Pilib Ó Ruanaidh said the exhibition aimed to introduce a new generation of Irish speakers to the work of these early pioneers.
"We owe a lot to those dedicated activists working in a hostile political environment to ensure we have an infrastructure today to learn, speak, worship, entertain and educate in Irish," he said.
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, keynote speaker at the launch, stressed the links between the early Irish language activists and social justice campaigns.
"This exhibition show how the Irish language (struggle) is intertwined with the struggle for social rights, self-determination and for a better future free from poverty and unemployment," he said.
"The exhibits here demonstrate determined activism. They remind us that the impossible is only impossible until it's done."
He added: "The challenge for us today is to not only pay homage to the many people who did all this amazing work before us but to continue the work."
The exhibition is on display in the historic Drying Room at Conway Mill throughout August.
