Firebird, Ireland’s market leading designer and manufacturer of commercial and domestic boilers, headquartered in Baile Mhic Íre, Co Cork, has taken a “trailblazing” approach to offer Irish classes for its staff.
As a nod to its Gaeltacht heritage, Firebird, which has sites in Cork, Northern Ireland and England has been running weekly classes for its staff to learn and re-engage with Gaeilge.
Rather than the modh coinníollach, the classes are focused more on casual conversations and tips ‘as Gaeilge’ which has proven popular for Firebird’s staff.
Mark Doyle, General Manager of Firebird who attends the weekly class said: “Our Gaeltacht heritage is something we take great pride in. ‘An rogha is fearr’ is part of our company tagline so it was a natural decision for us to bring that use of the Irish language deeper into our work and to support our colleagues to get back in touch with using and speaking Irish if they had a desire to do so.”
He added: “We’re really delighted with the feedback and engagement so far. It’s certainly brought a new and very positive dimension to our workplace and we’re very grateful to our teacher Eibhlín Ní Lionáird who has been so passionate and encouraging of us speaking the language. She brings great energy and a lot of laughter to our classes.”
Mary Murphy who works as an accountant with Firebird and came to work in Ballyvourney over two years ago described how she has been enjoying the Irish classes.
“It’s been really lovely to resurrect the Irish I would have learned back in my school days,” she explained.
“It’s surprising to see how much you do remember. The classes are very conversational. They’re actually a good laugh and it’s been really interesting to get to know the people we work with in a different way, outside of work through the classes.”
Liadh Ni Riada, former MEP and Language Planning Officer for Gaeltacht Mhúscraí commended Firebird for taking an innovative approach to the personal development of its staff.
“It’s fantastic to see what Firebird is doing to embrace the Irish language,” she stated. “They really are trailblazers in that sense. Most people have Irish from their school days and classes such as the ones Firebird have facilitated for their staff give people the confidence and encouragement to realise and feel like the Irish language belongs to everybody. It really is a great credit to Firebird.”