Coláiste na bhFiann (CnabhF) is an Irish language summer course for students aged 10–18 years. The company was founded by Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí and the first course was in Rosmuc, County Galway, Ireland in 1968. Since then, fifty thousand students have studied on their summer courses.[citation needed]
Activities
editSome courses are college-based and others are based in the Gaeltacht areas of Rosmuc, County Galway and Ráth Cairn, County Meath. Most courses are three-week residential courses in which students are immersed in an Irish-speaking environment. During these courses, students attend classes and take part in various activities, games, arts, crafts, and sport. As Ireland's longest-established course organiser, several other courses have been founded on the same model.[citation needed]
In 1970, Cumann na bhFiann was founded to provide weekly youth clubs and to give students the opportunity to practise the language skills acquired on the summer courses. As of 2016, there were approximately sixty clubs in the country.[1]
Sexual abuse allegations
editSince his death, Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí, the company's founder and first teacher on the courses, has been subject to allegations that he sexually attacked and abused teenage boys in the 1960s and 1970s either at school or during Coláiste na bhFiann outings.[2]
Locations
editResidential - Rule A
edit- Ros Muc, County Galway. The first teacher here was Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí[3]
Residential - Rule B
edit- Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal[citation needed]
- Baile an Uairnigh (Warrenstown), County Meath (opened 2010)[4]
- Ráth Chairn, County Meath[citation needed]
Past pupils
edit- Hector Ó hEochagáin, television presenter[citation needed]
- Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, television presenter[citation needed]
- Carrie Crowley, television presenter[citation needed]
- Catherine Martin, Irish government minister[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ "Cumman na bhFiann". colaistenabhfiann.ie. Coláiste na bhFiann. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.[dead link]
- ^ McGee, Harry (16 April 2013). "Calls for review of Ó Lubhlaí allegations". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ "Domhnall Ó Lubhlai marbh" (in Irish). An Tuairisceoir. 23 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "Colaiste na bhFiann breathes new life into Warrenstown". Meath South. Meath. The Meath Chronicle. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2013.