CÉAD BLIAIN ó shin d'eagraigh Conradh na Gaeilge cruinniú poiblí ollmhór i mBleá Cliath, ag a raibh suas le 100,000 duine i láthair. Ba nós leis an gConradh ag an am paráid bhliantúil a eagrú san ardchathair. Slógadh faoi leith a tionóladh ar an Satharn 19ú Meán Fómhair 1909, mar a míníodh sa tuairisc a foilsíodh ar an Irish Times:
“The occasion which brought them together in a swaying mass, that extended close-packed from Pillar to Rotunda, and overflowed into the thoroughfares beyond, was something more than the ordinary annual Language Procession of recent years.
“The present demonstration, organised on a much larger scale than ever before, gained its special importance this year from the prominence of the question as to the place to be given to Irish in the syllabus of the new National University.”
Aitheantas a fháil don Ghaeilge mar ábhar riachtanach iontrála san ollscoil nua a bhí le bunú faoin Irish Universities Act (1908) an sprioc a leag an Conradh roimhe ag ardfheis speisialta a tionóladh i Meitheamh 1908.