Coláiste na bhFiann


Coláiste na bhFiann 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 in 1968. Since then, fifty thousand students have studied on their summer courses.

Activities

Some courses are college based and others are based in the Gaeltacht areas of Rosmuc, Co. Galway and Ráth Cairn, Co. Meath. Most courses are three week residential courses in which students are immersed in an Irish speaking environment. It teaches the Irish language as living breathing spoken language not just as a school subject. 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.
In 1970 Cumann na bhFiann was founded to provide weekly youth clubs and to give students the opportunity to practice the language skills acquired on the summer courses. There are now sixty clubs nationwide.
Since 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.

Locations

Residential - Rule A