The Irish Language Revival
In Columbus, there are many ways to celebrate and enjoy Irish music, culture, and language this holiday season. Our now-superstars of Midwest Irish festivals, the Drowsy Lads, will play their Christmas Concert at the Shamrock Club on Friday, December 12.
The local chapter of the Daughters of Erin follow that up with a children’s Christmas party on December 13. Every Thursday evening, we now also have an Introduction to the Irish language class in the city. Having a room full of Americans who are practicing Irish every week in Columbus is a wonderful event as we draw 2025 to a close.
The History of Spoken Irish in Columbus
Undoubtedly, the Famine immigrants who arrived in Central Ohio and built and populated “Irish Broadway” in Columbus spoke Irish in their daily lives. But, as in Ireland post-Famine, education, the court system, and commerce were conducted in English, meaning Irish failed to leave historical traces in the city.
That all changed in 1987. As J. Michael Finn detailed in his article “Conradh na Gaeilge í Lár Ohio” (available at both the Gaelic League of Central Ohio’s historical website and in the wonderful book Transplanted Shamrocks), two self-taught Irish speakers in Columbus—Larry O’Callan and Ron Crow—sparked a new community of Irish speakers at the main Columbus Metropolitan Library.
The Gaelic League
In January, 1988, they formed the Gaelic League of Central Ohio and offered their first Irish language class to over 20 students (with Mr. Finn himself included). Following the class, the League’s first public event was an Irish Language Mass at Our Lady of Peace Church, believed to be the first ever Irish mass delivered in Columbus.
The mass sparked even more students, and the next set of Irish language classes moved to the Shamrock Club for need of space. In 1989, the Gaelic League of Central Ohio marched in Columbus’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and produced a newsletter, “An Páipéar Bán.”
By 2012, the Gaelic League taught over 1,500 central Ohioans to speak in Irish. In 2014, the Columbus Comhaltas branch was founded, with the group now offering Irish language classes today!
Spoken Irish in Columbus
Music acts and movies from Ireland certainly have had the biggest impact in exposing Central Ohioans to the Irish language in modern times. “The Quiet Girl” (“An Cailín Ciúin”) played at the Gateway Film Center near Ohio State University’s campus in March 2023.
Hozier and Kneecap
Hozier routinely performs his as Gaeilge songs during his yearly-stadium and arena concerts. Kneecap rocked the Arena District in 2024, with their self-titled biopic playing at the Drexel Theater that same year.
The Irish American community of Columbus is playing its part in the Irish language revival, too. Mick Broderick, a County Dublin musician and teacher transplant to—well, Dublin, of course—offered a crash course in the Irish language at the 2024 and 2025 Dublin Irish Festivals. And, in 2025, Father Stephen Hayes added an Irish grammar instruction hour at the festival. Irish Language Officer, Michaela Fallon, of the Columbus Comhaltas branch now leads weekly in-person classes at the Shamrock Club, just like the pioneers of the Gaelic League in the 1980s.
As the Irish language blossoms back in Ireland, where the Republic now has a fierce Gaeilgeoir (one who speaks or is enthusiastic about the Irish language), Catherine Connolly, as Ireland’s president, Columbus is helping make Irish a lively and accessible language for anyone who feels even a little Irish, Gaelic, or Celtic (or all three!) at heart.
Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh!
(Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!)
