Biography

Ó hAodha

Ó hAodha

-Overview:Now generally anglicised as O'Hea , Hughes or Hayes, Ó hAodha derives from Aodh, a personal name popular at all historical times throughout the Gaelic world....

 is reputed to have been the first person to sing Amhrán na bhFiann

Amhrán na bhFiann

is the national anthem of Ireland. The music was composed by Peadar Kearney and Patrick Heeney, and the original English lyrics were authored by Kearney. It is sung in the Irish language translation made by Liam Ó Rinn. The song has three verses, but the national anthem consists of the chorus only...

 in public. He spoke French and Italian as well as Irish and English. He was also known as a fine tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

. As well as being active in the Gaelic League he was a committed trade unionist and socialist; worked as an intelligence officer

Intelligence officer

An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...

 with Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...

 and was secretary to Cumann na nGael

In 1914, he commented on the language policy of the Gaelic League:

"If the Gaelic League made it its business to enable the Gael to live in the Gaeltacht and prosper there, and dropped all its other work, the language would be saved. If the League continues to do everything else but this, the language will be lost."

His main criticism was that the Gaelic League emphasised gaelicising the country through the educational system, while the living language was disappearing from the Gaeltacht

Gaeltacht

is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...

. His querying of the wisdom of devoting energy to reviving Irish in the anglicised areas got little support.

External links

• From Language Revival to Survival, By Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, Ceart Teanga na Gaeltachta