Dúirt Dara, or "Dara said" — what does it all mean?

I give and bequeath my most cherished possession to you…

Irish as a language has always been a language built perfectly for storytelling. Long before pen and paper (or vellum, goose feathers and iron gall ink, for that matter), stories were passed from one generation to the next with as much care as granny's Staffordshire dogs, standing guard on the mantle above the hearth.

Mama, dada, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

It would be totally ridiculous to shove a 992-page copy of the Collins English Dictionary in the hands of a toddler and expect them to be holding full conversations by the end of the week. So what are you torturing yourself for? There will be plenty of time to self-flagellate while learning Irish! For now you need a bit of "An Tusa Mo Mhamaí?" or "Cá Bhfuil Bran?".

Between here and the "other".

There are plenty of grey areas in this country — and for once I am not giving out about our weather. With a border running through parishes, homes and sometimes even graves, even the dead couldn't escape being divided by this imaginary line.

I know that last bit sounds like a "the horse's name was Friday" kinda joke, but it isn't.

It's no surprise the theme of "the in-between" is prominent in my life and work — between identities, between this world and the mystical "other world", between fact and fiction, and in my more recent years, between Irish and English.

Use what you have, it's more valuable than you think.

One piece of advice I have for learners: use the Irish you already have. Waiting for perfection is about as reliable as a Bus Éireann bus actually arriving. Sprinkle cúpla focal into your English — crowbar in those words you half remember. While making your cupán tae or heading to your leaba for the night.

So many learners feel they can't be part of Irish until they are fluent.

But today, you could be one word closer. Tomorrow, another. Then the next.