Sa Chreagán, Co. na Gaillimhe, a rugadh an fear seo a bhí i gcathaoir na Gaeilge i Maigh Nuad ar feadh nach mór leathchéad bliain nuair is géire a bhí gá ag pobal na Gaeilge le cabhair shagartúil. ‘Maoirseacht thruamhéalach Uí Mhaolthuile’ a thugann Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh ar an tréimhse sin in Maigh Nuad: saothrú na Gaeilge 1798-1995, 1995 in eagar ag Etaín Uí Shíocháin. Is ina cheapachán is soiléire atá aigne institiúidiúil na hEaglaise Caitlicí i leith na teanga i rith 1828-76 le feiceáil. Tá sé deacair gan a cheapadh nár theastaigh uathu aon chabhair a thabhairt. Bhí an chathaoir fágtha ag an Athair Máirtín Ó Lachtnáin le dhá bhliain nuair a ceapadh Tully. In Maynooth College, 1795-1995, 1995 deir Patrick J. Corish: ‘James Tully, ordained for Tuam in 1825 was reluctantly appointed in 1828, the trustees reluctant because they did not consider him a good candidate, the candidate reluctant because he was far more interested in going to a parish than in teaching Irish. Until his death on 2 October 1876 [i Maigh Nuad] he presided over the decline of the language, a little sadly, one gets the impression.’ Thug an sagart cáiliúil Walter McDonald (1854-1920) an fhianaise seo in Reminiscences of a Maynooth professor, 1925: ‘He was then an old man, whitehaired and feeble; quite incapable of conducting a class. There was a notion current among the students that, owing to some private foundation, the chair of Irish was richly endowed; and that it was from this excess of income Mr Tully used to provide the beads, scapulars, and other objects of devotion, which he distributed among those of us who sought counsel of him at his rooms. The truth is that he had no special endowment and that he provided these things out of the income of a junior professorship, which was somewhat less than that of the deans and professors of theology. He was a pious man; zealous to hear confessions and so he attracted people to him when he was younger, and used to give them those little gifts. Being what he was, it was a pity he did not remain on the mission—did not do anything other than occupy in our College a chair for which he did not seem to have any other capacity than a speaking knowledge of the Irish language .... Tradition, however, represented him as having always been uninterested in Irish and not over-anxious to save it from decay. Some wag said that he did more than the penal laws to hasten the decay of the language which he was paid to teach and foster; and, certainly, unless his old age belied his prime, it would seem as if the sarcasm was not beside the truth.’ Bhí Tully sa chathaoir go fóill nuair a dúirt Uilleog de Búrca os comhair an tsaoil: ‘Not one student out of a hundred learns, during his course, to spell, to speak and to write Irish, as a language. There is an Irish class, but the language of the Gael is treated as the language of the Hebrew race, as something foreign, not the language of thought of the country, of life, of business’ (Aryan origin of the Gaelic race and language, 1874). Tríocha bliain ina dhiaidh sin bhí an rud céanna le rá ag Micheál P. Ó hIceadha in Leabhar an Athar Eoghan, 1904 in eagar ag Úna Ní Fhaircheallaigh; ní i Maigh Nuad a bhí sé féin ach bhí labhartha aige le sagairt a chaith tamall i rang Uí Mhaoltuile.

I ndeireadh a thréimhse níor fhéad an fear bocht aon obair a dhéanamh bhí sé chomh lag sin agus is ar ábhar sagairt éigin a chuirtí cúram na teanga. An t-aon fhorbairt a rinneadh lena linn gur cuireadh tús leis an mbailiúchán tábhachtach de lámhscríbhinní sa choláiste. Ach ar an méid sin féin tugann Ó Tuathaigh an géarbhreithiúnas seo: ‘An rud a bhí le déanamh ná a chinntiú go mbeadh oidhreacht (agus lámhscríbhinní) na Gaeilge le fáil feasta sa chartlainn, le haghaidh taighde na scoláirí seachas cúram críochnúil a dhéanamh de theagasc na teanga beo mar chuid de churaclam oiliúna bunaithe ar pholasaí tréadchúraim.’

Diarmuid Breathnach

Máire Ní Mhurchú