Who are the Carntogher community? 

There is a small rural community of 200 families in the Slaughtneil area, under Carntogher Mountain, on the edge of Maghera, Co. Derry. The area was experiencing depopulation over the years, a challenge which impacted on language, traditional ecological habitats and the agricultural sector.

The Carntogher Community Association was established in 1992 to regenerate the Slaughtneil and Carntogher area and to promote environmental, economic, social and cultural projects in the area.

The revival of the Irish language is central to the ethos of the development committee and they promote all projects bilingually. There is a young, lively, energetic community of Irish speakers a bright vision for the area who are currently leading the revival of Irish.

Carntogher was among the 5 Irish speaking communities that gained official recognition as an Irish language network in 2015. This was the first time such official status was awarded to an area outside the Gaeltacht.

Heart of the Community

Services through Irish for the Carntogher community include a shop, a coffee shop, resource centre, theatre, youth club and afterschool club. There are Irish language and music classes, conversation circles, training courses and reflexology sessions for babies and children in the resource centre provided locally.

Féile Charn Tóchair is a community based festival which celebrates culture, language, environment and the archeological heritage of the Maghera area. As well as Féile Charn Tóchair the community organises Feis Charn Tóchair, which promotes culture and revival of the Irish language. There are sections in the feis which are suitable for all young people, whether naíscoil, Gaelscoil, or English medium primary and secondary schools.

How does Foras na Gaeilge support Carn Tóchair?

Foras na Gaeilge provided support for Carntogher in 2018 through the Irish Language Communities Scheme 2016 – 2020, Irish Language Networks, the Festivals Scheme, the Summer Camps Scheme and the Youth Events Scheme.

If you are interested in getting more information about our funding schemes and about the support available for you fill in the contact box below and we will be in contact with you.  

Further information

There is further information on the support Foras na Gaeilge provides to the community in this booklet.

More information on Irish language networks is available at #GaeilgeleChéile.

A full list of Foras na Gaeilge schemes can be found here.