TÁ AN LEATHANACH SEO AR FÁIL FOSTA I: nGAEILGE

Brendan O Dufaigh has been associated with the Irish language for many years. He works in Rannafast Gaeltacht College during the summer and worked with Gael Linn for five years. He was also involved in the establishment of Gaelscoil Ultain in 1986 and is currently chairman of the school’s Board of Management. He was also associated with the establishment of Gaelscoil Lorgan in Castleblayney in 2008 and has served as its Board of Management’s sole chairman to date. He is also chairman of the Gaelscoil Eois Board of Management in Clones. He is a director of three naíonra in Co. Monaghan.

He was PRO of the Castleblayney Drama Festival for ten years, chairman of Clontibret Buddy Bear Trust Fund and a member of the Board of the Garage Theatre. He wrote a 350-page history of his native parish, entitled The Book of Clontibret and Election and Rejection, a book about general election results in the county. In 2008 he wrote and published Portráid d’Éirinn, a Leaving Certificate History textbook through the medium of Irish to cater for Gaelcholáistí. In 2011 he wrote and published Amach Anseo, a Career Guidance textbook through the medium of Irish to cater for Gaelcholáistí.

A native of Annyalla he was educated in Monaghan CBS, University College Dublin and NUI Maynooth, where he received a Masters degree in Local History. Prior to his appointment as Principal in Coláiste Oiriall at Easter 2004, Brendan had been on the staff of Our Lady’s Secondary School, Castleblayney for 13 years where he was Programme Co-ordinator and a member of the school’s Board of Management.