Deireadh Seachtaine Gaeilge / Irish Language Weekend
This page will be updated frequently as the weekend comes into focus. Check back often!
Beidh Deireadh Seachtaine Gaeilge ar siĂșl i St. Paul, MN ar an 21Ăș, 22Ăș, & 23Ăș lĂĄ dâAibreĂĄn 2023. Beidh ranganna ann do chuile dhuine Ăł thosaitheoirĂ go cainteoirĂ lĂofa.
An Irish Language Weekend will be held in St. Paul, MN on the 21st, 22nd, & 23rd of April 2023. There will be classes for everyone from absolute beginners to experienced learners.Â
DĂ©an teagmhĂĄil le / Contact - education@celticjunction.org
The weekend fee is $175. The registration deadline for the DSG is Friday, April 14th.
We are bigger and more comprehensive this year with speakers, teachers and performers coming from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, and Texas.
We will have expanded to five levels of teaching this year. Students may self-select their level and will have the option to move to another level if they wish for any reason.
If a student wishes for advice on their level, please let Patrick O'Donnell know: education@
Schedule  (subject to change)
Google Map
LĂłistĂn/Â Hotel Block (coming soon)
To celebrate our new 2023 partnership with the world-renowned Gael Linn, our highlights this year include: a talk by PĂĄdhraic Ă Ciardha, Chairman of Gael Linn, on 'Gael Linn - 70 years of innovation in language and cultural revitalization' on Friday, April 21;  certificates will be presented to anybody who has also attended our Winter quarter Gael Linn classes by their CEO,  RĂ©amonn  Ă CiarĂĄin, and we'll be showing the famous Gael Linn film Saoirse from 1961 depicting the tumultuous years from 1919-1922 which led to the formation of the Irish Free State and the partition of Ireland. Also, the Gael Linn teacher, Dean Farrell, will be flying in from Montreal to teach for the weekend.
AĂonna Speisialta / Special Guests
RĂ©amonn Ă CiarĂĄin was appointed to the role of CEO of Gael Linn on 2 June 2022. He began working with Gael Linn in 1993, was promoted to manager in 2003, and to Director of Education in 2020. RĂ©amonn has authored three books on CĂșchulainn which were published by Gael Linn, as well articles in a variety of publications. He has toured the Midwest of the USA speaking about CĂșchulainn, Irelandâs greatest mythological hero.
RĂ©amonn was born in Crossmaglen, and now lives in Milford, Co. Armagh. He took his primary degree in education with Celtic studies at St Maryâs University College, Belfast. Following this, he successfully completed a masterâs degree in Irish Studies at Queenâs University Belfast and later a masterâs degree in Cultural Management at the University of Ulster. He is chairperson of Aonach Mhacha, the Irish language social enterprise behind the building of a state of the art Irish language cultural centre in Armagh City which opened in March 2020.
RĂ©amonn is married to Dolores and they have two children, Alana and Caoilte.
PĂĄdhraic Ă Ciardha has served in leadership roles and on many bodies in the media sector in Ireland and in the Celtic nations. He was a key player, directly and centrally involved in all phases in the planning, establishment and development of TG4, the acclaimed Irish language TV channel.
He is a native speaker of Irish, born and reared in Cois Fharraige in the Galway Gaeltacht. After graduating from Maynooth University, he was a research scholar in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies and subsequently lecturer in Modern Irish at Maynooth University.
His broadcasting career began when he established the RaidiĂł na Gaeltachta bureau in Dublin in 1979. He went on to become a member of the team which devised and established the flagship radio news programme Morning Ireland on RTĂ Radio 1 and was later Programme Editor for RTĂ Nuacht (Irish language news) on radio and television.
He was engaged as full-time Irish Language Broadcasting Policy Advisor to the two successive Government Ministers, (MĂĄire Geoghegan-Quinn and Michael D Higgins), whose initiatives led to the establishment of the service.
Deputy Chief Executive of TG4 (1996-2018). This role was to lead the fledgling station in corporate and public affairs, international representation, branding and media relations.  He coined the channelâs acclaimed and evergreen motto/mission statement sĂșil eile (âanother eyeâ).
It is rumoured that he plays the tin whistle.
Eliza (ZaelĂ) Kane  studied Art + Sociology at Goldsmiths University London and enjoyed a year-long private mentorship in Manosque, France with the late peintre militaire, Louis FrĂ©gier.
Today ZaelĂ studies woodworking in Lockhart, Texas under sculpturist RL Blaire, best known for his vintage collaborations with Disney, and oil portraiture under Karen Offutt at Austinâs Atelier Dojo.
ZaelĂâs imaginative, multidisciplinary work â comprising traditional canvas fair, up-cycled litter, audio collage, and live performance art â is influenced by her training in clinical hypnosis, Permaculture design theory, and literary scholarship with a concentration in minority languages.
Her various projects unite around a goal to dismantle the grip Ecological Anxiety (be it Despair or Denial) holds on our collective imagination, freeing us to re-harmonize with our home planet, which she believes weâre well able to not only achieve but also enjoy.
ZaelĂ uses these creative expressions to deepen and disseminate her scholarly research on the same subjects, published under her given name, Eliza Catherine Kane, MA, CH.
Fergal OâBrien has taught bodhrĂĄn since 1986 in Belfast, and from 2006, with the Traditional Arts
Partnership, South Armagh. In 2016, Fergal published the worldâs first graded bodhrĂĄn tutor book
with colleague René de Kat. Seoladh Eagrån 4 ag CJAC i 2021.
Fergal OâBrien hails from a family steeped in traditional music in Portglenone, County Antrim. Fergal became interested in traditional music through his mother Ann, an All Ireland Slow Air Fiddle champion, in the late 70âs. His brother and sister were members of DeĂĄnta and his first group Clann Lughaidh were double All Ireland Slogadh winners in 1979 and 1980. Clann Lughaidh went on to appear on BBCâs âAs IÂ Roved Outâ and performed for two years at the Interceltic festival in Lorient. Fergal plays piano, concertina and bodhrĂĄn.
After he married and moved to South Armagh Fergal was a member of an All Ireland winning Mullaghbawn ScĂłr Instrumental Group in 2006 & 2008.