Aodán Mac Póilin (1948 – 29 December 2016) was an

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

activist in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Background

Aodán Mac Póilin was born in Belfast and grew up in Norfolk Road in the

Andersonstown Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish ...

area. His father worked as a civil servant and his mother was an

speaker. He had two sisters. He attended the New

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

in the 1970s and obtained a BA (Hons) and an

M.Phil. The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

Irish studies Irish Studies is an interdisciplinary field of research devoted to the study of Ireland, History of Ireland. Geography of Ireland, Culture of Ireland, Literature of Ireland, Art of Ireland, Languages of Ireland, Politics of the Republic of Irelan ...

. He helped to establish the

Shaw's Road Shaw's Road is a road in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, connecting the Andersonstown Road with the Glen Road. Shaw's Road Gaeltacht Located on the road, is a small Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) known colloquially as "The Irish Houses", and ...

Irish-speaking community where he and his wife Áine lived.

Career

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

European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages The European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL) was a non-governmental organisation that was set up to promote linguistic diversity and languages. It was founded in 1982 and discontinued in 2010. The organisation had close ties with both the E ...

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 Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agency's purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, animation and television production industry.About Us > Overview Northern Ireland Screen website, ...

for 5 years from 2012, with particular responsibility for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. He also served on the boards of the

Columba Initiative The Columba Project (Gaelic: ''Iomairt Cholm Cille''), formerly known as the Columba Initiative is a program for Gaelic speakers in Scotland and Ireland to meet each other more often, and in so doing to learn more of the language, heritage and lif ...

Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta or CnaG is the representative body for Irish-language medium education in Northern Ireland. Its name translates into English as the ''Council for Irish-language medium education''. It was established in 2000 by the N ...

(the Council for Irish-medium Education), the Education Broadcasting Council of

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

Foras na Gaeilge (, "Irish Institute"; ) is a public body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the island of Ireland, including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was set up on 2 December 1999, assuming the roles ...

(the cross-border Irish language implementation body), and the

Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry The Seamus Heaney Centre is located at Queen's University Belfast, and named after the late Seamus Heaney, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Heaney graduated from Queens in 1961 with a First Class Honours in English language and ...

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. 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. Mac Póilin died on 29 December 2016.

Books

* ''Styles of Belonging: the cultural identities of Ulster'' (1992) (editor) * ''Ruined Pages, New Selected Poems of Padraic Fiacc'' (1994) (co-editor with

Gerald Dawe Gerald Dawe (born 1952) is an Irish poet. Early life Gerald Dawe was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and grew up with his mother, sister and grandmother. He attended Orangefield High School across the city in East Belfast, a leading progres ...

)'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
/ref> * ''The Irish Language in Northern Ireland'' (1997)

(2002) (member of the editorial panel) *''Our Tangled Speech, Essays on Language and Culture'' (2018).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Poilin, Aodan 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Schoolteachers from Belfast Alumni of Ulster University Irish language activists 1948 births 2016 deaths