Aodán Mac Póilin (11 October 1948 – 29 December 2016) was an

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

activist in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Background

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

Andersonstown Andersonstown, known colloquially as Andytown, 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 ...

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

speaker and grew up speaking the language at home. He had two sisters. He was one of the early students at the New

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

(1970-1974) which had recently opened at

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

. There he was associated with the Coleraine Cluster of poets and writers. He graduated with a BA(Hons) in Irish studies. He later obtained an

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

on modern literature in Irish. On returning to Belfast he helped to establish the Shaw's Road 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 ...

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 Not to be confused with Screen Ireland. 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 > ...

for 5 years from 2012, with particular responsibility for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. 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 BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

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 rol ...

(the cross-border Irish language implementation body), and the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry,

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. 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. He is survived by his wife Áine, daughter Aoife, and two grandchildren.

Legacy

A film entitled ''Rian na gCos'' celebrating his life was released on BBC Two NI in 2020 and on

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

in 2021. In 2017, the ''Irish Language Broadcast Fund'' established a bursary fund in his name entitled ''Ciste Cuimhneacháin Aodáin Mhic Phóilin''.

Books

* ''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 ()'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> * ''Irish Language in Northern Ireland'' (editor); Iontaobhas Ultach, 1997 ()

(2002) (member of the editorial panel) * ''Our Tangled Speech, Essays on Language and Culture''; Ulster Historical Foundation, 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