'Give Gaelige a go' in Kildare
The festival will conclude on Tuesday 17 March with Féile Sráide Lá Fhéile Pádraig Nás na Ríogh, the annual Irish Language Saint Patrick’s Day Street Festival organised by Cill Dara le Gaeilge
SEACHTAIN na Gaeilge 2026 is being celebrated across Kildare this week from Sunday 1 March to Tuesday 17 March featuring 17 days of Irish language, bilingual and multilingual events.
Many of the events are supported by Kildare County Council through the Creative Ireland programme, Kildare Library and Arts Service and Kildare County Council’s Irish Language committee ‘Coiste Gaeilge’.
The festival will conclude on Tuesday 17 March with Féile Sráide Lá Fhéile Pádraig Nás na Ríogh, the annual Irish Language Saint Patrick’s Day Street Festival organised by Cill Dara le Gaeilge.
The event will take place on Naas Main Street from 2pm to 5pm, supported by Kildare County Council, through the Creative Ireland Éire Ildánach Programme.
Members of the public are encouraged to contact their local library or local Irish language community group for details of events in their area.
“I look forward to Seachtain na Gaeilge every year,” said cllr Carmel Kelly, cathaoirleach of Kildare County Council.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our native language, culture and heritage, and I am so appreciative of the hard work that has been done by community groups, organisations, libraries and officers across the county to provide this vibrant and varied Seachtain na Gaeilge programme for the people of Kildare.
“Gaeilge is our national language. It is unique to our island and one of the world's oldest and most beautiful languages.
“It is also a vibrant living community language, with over 42 per cent of Kildare’s population reporting that they can speak Irish, and with Irish language community groups ‘Grúpaí Pobail’ working to promote Gaeilge and organise events in all municipal districts.
“Irish is no longer seen as just a school subject or as something that has to be done. It can be a pleasure and a treasure for all, and it is great to see our language really coming back into our daily lives now and coming into the mainstream.
“There’s a great energy about the language now and the ‘cúpla focal’ goes a long way - a ‘go raibh maith agat’ here and a ‘slán go fóill’ there.
“You will be surprised at how many people can answer you as Gaeilge, and at how happy they are to have the opportunity to do so. I encourage everyone to give Gaeilge a go this Seachtain na Gaeilge.”
Board games and sean-nós singing in Naas, storytelling in Celbridge, the Mobile Music school in Maynooth, films in Leixlip and arts and crafts in Kildare Town - these are just a sample of what is on offer, as well as our regular cirocal comhrá groups and book clubs.
This year, we welcome our Irish Writer in residence, Dubhán Ó Longáin, in association with Maynooth University and Kildare Arts to read from his new book in Maynooth Community Library and immediately afterwards begin the first in his series of workshops for up-and-coming writers in Irish in Co. Kildare.
Through Kildare’s Creative Communities programme, we are proud to support the Féile Sráide agus Céilí which will fill the streets of Naas with Irish language, music, dance and culture in a way that is accessible to everyone as we celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
Irish was first seen in Ogham inscriptions in the fifth century and we are very fortunate to have in Cillín Chormaic, Baile Choilbhín, Contae Chill Dara (Killeencormack, Colbinstown, Kildare) the largest collection of ogham stones found at a single site in Leinster.
