Aodán Mac Póilin

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Aodán Mac Póilin
Born(1948-10-11)11 October 1948
Belfast
Died29 December 2016(2016-12-29) (aged 68)
Belfast
NationalityIrish
Alma materUlster University
Occupation(s)Writer, teacher
Known forIrish-language activist

Aodán Mac Póilin (11 October 1948 – 29 December 2016)[1] was an Irish language activist in Northern Ireland.

Background[edit]

Aodán Mac Póilin was born in Belfast and grew up in Norfolk Road in the Andersonstown area. His father worked as a civil servant and his mother was an Irish language speaker. He had two sisters.[2] He attended the New University of Ulster in the 1970s and obtained a BA (Hons) and an M.Phil. in Irish studies.[3] He helped to establish the Shaw's Road Irish-speaking community where he and his wife Áine lived.

Career[edit]

After graduation, Mac Póilin was a teacher for a period and then became Director of the ULTACH Trust in 1990.[4]

He was active in the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages and the Community Relations Council for Northern Ireland, and was chairman of the first Irish-medium school in Northern Ireland.

Mac Póilin served on the board of Northern Ireland Screen for 5 years from 2012, with particular responsibility for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund.[5] He also served on the boards of the Columba Initiative, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the Council for Irish-medium Education), the Education Broadcasting Council of BBC Northern Ireland,[6] Foras na Gaeilge (the cross-border Irish language implementation body), and the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Queen's University Belfast.

Mac Póilin wrote and lectured extensively on various aspects of the Irish language, literature and culture. He made a major contribution to the revitalisation of the Irish language in Northern Ireland.[7]

Mac Póilin died on 29 December 2016. He is survived by his wife Áine, daughter Aoife, and two grandchildren.[8][9]

Legacy[edit]

A film entitled Rian na gCos celebrating his life was released on BBC Two NI in 2020 and on TG4 in 2021.[10]

In 2017, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund established a bursary fund in his name entitled Ciste Cuimhneacháin Aodáin Mhic Phóilin.[11]

Books[edit]

  • Styles of Belonging: the cultural identities of Ulster (co-editor with Jean Lundy); 1992
  • Ruined Pages, New Selected Poems of Padraic Fiacc (co-editor with Gerald Dawe); Blackstaff Press 1994 (ISBN 978-0-85640-529-7)[12]
  • Irish Language in Northern Ireland (editor); Iontaobhas Ultach, 1997 (ISBN 978-0-9516466-3-2)
  • The Great Book of Gaelic (2002) (member of the editorial panel)
  • Our Tangled Speech, Essays on Language and Culture; Ulster Historical Foundation, 2018 (ISBN 978-1-909556-67-6)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "MAC PÓILÍN, Aodán (1948–2016)". ainm.ie. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Aodan Mac Poilin our Generation". Northern Visions. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  3. ^ Mac Póilin, Aodán (1981). Náisiúnachas agus litríocht na Nua-Ghaeilge, 1893-1935 = Nationalism and modern literature in Irish. Coleraine: New University of Ulster. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  4. ^ ULTACH Trust
  5. ^ "Sad death of Aodán Mac Póilín". Northern Ireland Screen. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Education Broadcasting Council". BBC. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Aodan Mac Poilin-An appreciation". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Aodan Mac Poilin-Trailblazer-promoted-irish-language-without-politics". Belfast Telegraph.
  9. ^ "Tributes paid to Irish language activist Aodán Mac Póilin (68)". The Irish News. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  10. ^ "AODÁN MAC PÓILIN FILM, RIAN NA GCOS, TO AIR ON BBC TWO NI AND TG4". Northern Ireland Screen. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  11. ^ "BURSARY LAUNCHED TO COMMEMORATE IRISH LANGUAGE ACTIVIST, AODÁN MAC PÓILIN". Northern Ireland Screen. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  12. ^ 'The patron saint of the insane': The Northern Irish poet Padraic Fiacc, a fiery, uncompromising chronicler of the Troubles, is celebrating his 70th birthday with the publication of a new volume. Damian Smyth studies the critical renaissance of this literary outsider
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