Ring, County Waterford

Ring (Irish: An Rinn, its official name) or Ringagonagh (Rinn Ó gCuanach, IPA:[ˈɾˠiːn̪ʲˈoːˈɡuənˠəx])[2] is a parish within the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht na nDéise area in County Waterford, Ireland. It lies on a peninsula about seven miles south of Dungarvan. The main settlement is the village of Ring or Ringville, which is within the townland of Ballynagaul.

Ring An Rinn
Gaeltacht
Ring Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°03′00″N 7°35′00″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	Waterford
Population  (2016)[1]
• Total	499
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference	X259930

It is a growing area that has three schools – two primary (including Scoil na Leanaí in Coláiste na Rinne, an Irish language boarding school) and one secondary school, Meánscoil San Nioclás. There are also a post office, restaurants, pubs and other businesses. There are two fishing piers/harbours (Ballynagaul and Helvick), two beaches (The Cunnigar and Ballynagaul) and a cove at Helvick.

Placename

'Ring' is an anglicisation of the Irish name 'An Rinn', meaning cape, point or headland. In 2005, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív announced that by way of Placenames Orders under the Official Languages Act 2003, anglicised place names (such as 'Ring') of Gaeltacht towns and villages would no longer feature on official signposts, and only the Irish language names would appear. The English-language version of the town's name was thus officially dropped from roadsigns in 2005. However, the English-language version of the name, Ring, is still widely used in Waterford and elsewhere.

Irish language

The Irish language plays an important role for people in the area, which is pivotal for improving their linguistic abilities. Gaoluinn na nDéise – the Waterford variant of the Munster Irish dialect – is spoken by native speakers. The strongest age-group of Irish speakers is the 10-14 age category, of which 50.8% use the language on a daily basis outside of educational institutions. A large number of people have moved to the area over recent decades (primarily from other parts of Ireland), and as a result there is a group of people living in Ring for whom Irish is not their first language.[3]

The Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the use of Irish in the Gaeltacht, published in 2007 and updated in 2014, gave information in relation to the number of Irish speakers in Gaeltacht na nDéise and the three electoral divisions it comprises: Ring, Ballymacart and Ardmore. The results for Ring were as follows: 43.07% in 2007 [4] and 48.14% in 2014.

According to the 2016 census 33% of the population in the An Rinn electoral division claimed they spoke Irish on a daily basis outside the education system, while over 75% said they could speak Irish[5][6]

Áine Ní Fhoghludha, an Irish language writer, was born here.[7]

Education

All education in Ring is taught in Irish. There is a pre-school, Naíonra na Rinne, in the local community centre, Ionad Pobail na Rinne. There is one primary school, Scoil Náisiúnta na Rinne, located at Maoil an Choirnigh. There is one secondary school, Meánscoil San Nioclás, which services Ring, An Sean Phobal, and there are also some students from Dungarvan.

Coláiste na Rinne

Coláiste na Rinne (Ring College) is an Irish-language primary school [8] in Ring. It also operates as an Irish-language summer college. During term time it accommodates fifth and sixth class students. As it is a primary boarding school, many students go on to secondary-level boarding schools from here. Many of the visiting students are accommodated by local families, many of whom speak only Irish at home. As such, it is seen as a good way to improve the visitors' spoken Irish. A new Transition Year course is also being offered for students in 2016. The college also provides Irish language training courses for various public sector bodies and trainee teachers.

View south over the peninsula

Sport

Rinn Ó gCuanach CLG is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club based in Ring. The club enters teams of both Gaelic football and hurling each year, which includes two adult Gaelic football teams and two adult Hurling teams in the Waterford County Championships. The club is one of a handful of dual clubs at senior level in the county, competing in the Senior Hurling and Senior Football championships.

Community Development

Community development in Ring is primarily carried out by two bodies that co-operate with each other. Comhairle Pobail na Rinne runs the local community hall and Ionad Pobail na Rinne hosts facilities and activities such as Naíonra na Rinne, the local doctor's clinic, the Raidió na Gaeltachta radio studio, Seirbhís Iarscoile na Rinne, and Spraoi – a parent and toddler group – as well as organising a variety of community events. Comhairle Pobail na Rinne have a rial na Gaeilge which requires activities taking place in the hall to include the Irish language, and most activities are carried out in Irish only. Comhlucht Forbartha na nDéise, which represents Gaeltacht na nDéise, also has an office in Ring and works to develop various projects. Comhlucht Forbartha na nDéise was established in May 2005.[9] It is a registered company and charity that has representatives from Comhairle Pobail na Rinne as well as Coiste Forbartha an tSean Phobail (the other community-based development committee in the Waterford Gaeltacht), on its board of directors. An Comhlucht Forbartha has developed and implemented several development plans for the Waterford Gaeltacht which have resulted in new facilities for Ring, such as a playground. Comhairle Pobail na Rinne won recognition for their activities in the An Baile Beo competition in 2006.[10]

See also

• Munster Irish
• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

1. "Sapmap Area: Settlements An Rinn". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office. 2016.
2. Placenames Database of Ireland
3. O'Connor, T. et al (2007) Gaeltacht na nDéise, A Socio-Economic and Cultural needs Analysis. CIT Press: Cork. pg.15
4. Ó Giollagáin, Conchúr; Mac Donnacha, Seosamh; Ní Chualáin, Fiona; Ní Shéagdha, Aoife; O'Brien, Mary (2007). "Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the User of Irish in the Gaeltacht: Principal Findings and Recommendations" (PDF). The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
5. "ArcGIS Web Application". census.cso.ie. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
6. "ArcGIS Web Application". airomaps.nuim.ie. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
7. Maria Luddy, ‘Ní Fhoghludha, Áine (1880–1932)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 13 May 2017
8. Coláiste na Rinne
9. O'Connor, T. et al (2007) Gaeltacht na nDéise, A Socio-Economic and Cultural needs Analysis. CIT Press: Cork. pg. 9
10. "An Baile Beo – southern region prizes awarded « Údarás na Gaeltachta".