Attempt for longest ever Irish-language conversation comes to a close today after 171 hour long conversation.
Irish speakers across eight different countries have been taking place in Comhrá ’17 during the last week. Over 1,000 people have been chatting as Gaeilge live on Youtube as part of a world record for the longest ever Irish language conversation. The record was completed today with people from Louth, Monaghan, Tipperary, Kerry and Dublin helping to complete the final few hours.
With all schools and colleges being closed today due to Hurricane Ophelia the Comhrá ’17 timetable for this morning had to be altered significantly. Conradh na Gaeilge, the democratic forum for the Irish-speaking community, supported its team from all over the country and have been chatting as Gaeilge live on snag.ie to ensure the record was achieved. The ‘comhrá’ began last Monday morning in Club Chonradh na Gaeilge on Dublin’s Harcourt Street. Since then people all over the world have been using their cúpla focal to help achieve the world record attempt.
Brenda Ní Ghairbhí, Bainisteoir of Seachtain na Gaeilge said: “We’d like to thank everyone who has been part of Comhrá ’17. Of course, schools were unexpectedly closed today with the red weather warning as part of Hurricane Ophelia, so we were very lucky to be able to keep the ‘comhrá’ live. Lots of people have rallied together over the past few hours to help us reach the world record and we’re very thankful for that.”
Over a thousand people took part in Comhrá ’17 from Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. They conversed together online as part of the Comhrá ‘17 world record attempt coordinated by Conradh na Gaeilge, and the non-stop conversation as Gaeilge was streamed live for a week at:
Síomha Ní Ruairc, Sechtain na Gaeilge & Campaign Awareness Executive said: “The university societies are pivotal to the record attempt every year and we wouldn’t be able to achieve the record without them. A special mention has to go to DCU’s Irish language society who kept the conversation going last night until 08:00 this morning, and to the everyone who pitched in at the last minute to achieve 171 hours of non-stop chat as Gaeilge.”
Irish universities along with international groups fill the overnight slots while the technical side of things are controlled by the Conradh na Gaeilge team in Dublin. Conradh na Gaeilge initiated the first Irish-language world record attempt with Comhrá 247 in 2013, where Irish was spoken non-stop for 168 hours in October 2013, and the 2014 attempt Comhrá ’14broke that attempt with 169 hours of back-to-back chat as Gaeilge. The record which was broken today was achieved last year with a 170 hour long conversation as part of Comhrá ’16.
