Growing up in Letterkenny in Co Donegal, I remember from a young age being really interested in the fact that in Ireland we had our own other language. I went to an English-medium school, like most people, but in primary school especially, I was interested in Irish. I had no plans of pursuing it after school. I wanted to learn about media production, but after a few years, I realised I didn’t use Irish in my daily life any more. It was strange to leave school and not really use my language. I wanted to get back into it. I looked for conversation circles and classes, and that was when I really locked in.
I always wanted to have a YouTube channel, and having studied media production at North West Regional College, I had knowledge of how to make videos and edit, but I didn’t know what to make videos about. I don’t know when it occurred to me, but I just thought, well, I do have some Irish. I’m not fluent or perfect, but I know the basics. I thought I’d give it a go.
Once lockdown happened, that’s when it really took off. The numbers went way up, people subscribing and watching. Sometimes people don’t know my name if they watch my videos. I never say, at the beginning, Hi, I’m Molly. I always just say welcome back to Gaeilge i Mo Chroí, the name of the channel. After a few years making videos, I thought it would be nice to write a book. It’s a different form of media, and I had things I wanted to share that didn’t quite work in a video. My publisher was one of my viewers. She was getting back into learning Irish herself.
I’ve taught Irish to adults from all over the world. I started at the end of 2020. Everything was online at that point. I was learning Italian, and realised the platform I was learning on allowed you apply to teach your own language. I’ve taught people returning to the language in Ireland. In Europe, I’ve taught people from France, Hungary, Germany. I’ve had students in Japan, Mexico, with no connection to Ireland, no family or anything, they just liked Ireland because of the music, the place, the people.
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I moved to New York in 2022. I teach at the Irish Arts Centre in Manhattan. They have a lot of Irish classes. All my classes have been sold out this term – it was the most they’ve seen for a while. Quite a few people have said that Kneecap was what they knew about the language, and that’s what made them want to learn. An Cailín Ciúin was shown in quite a few cinemas here. There’s more Irish in the media. I’ve met people in New York who tried to start learning Irish in the 1980s and they had nothing. Maybe they bought books when they were in Ireland. They didn’t really stick at it. Now, on social media, if they select Ireland as one of their interests, they’ll come across videos in Irish.
When I moved away, I was just starting to appreciate Ireland. Growing up, I felt, oh, it’s boring here. The weather is terrible. I don’t want to live here when I’m older.
When I moved, I started to appreciate things that you don’t think about when you’re a child. Like the people. I miss Irish people every day. They’re so friendly and so interesting, too. When you meet new people in Ireland, you feel that they’re interested in you and you’re interested in them.
The economy really shapes a culture. The capitalist economy here [in the United States] has a real influence on people. Society is driven by money and success. Living in Ireland, you can have a decent life without earning too much money. Here, you see regular people worried if anything happens to them. They think about how much would it cost to go to a hospital. Or, if they want to have a family, there’s no maternity leave. It’s created a lot of successful people because they’ve really tried to make the most of it and create a good life for themselves, but then you have this huge disparity between the very rich and the very poor. I think that has a big impact on the culture. In Ireland, there are definitely people who are way richer than others, but I don’t feel that disparity as much.
I’ll definitely move back to Ireland. A lot of people I know who have moved away feel similar. They all want to go back home. I don’t like to put Ireland on a pedestal. It has its issues, and the housing crisis definitely concerns me, but I do think the pros outweigh the cons. It’s hard to explain. It’s just this sense of: that’s where I belong. It has its issues, has its bad weather, but I just think that’s where I’m meant to be.
In conversation with Niamh Donnelly. This interview, part of a series about well-known people’s lives and relationship with Ireland, was edited for clarity and length. Molly Nic Céile is an ambassador for Ireland Reads, the national campaign inspiring people to get lost in a good book this February, irelandreads.ie.
