Country Ireland Irish Grid Reference N800567 Population 447 (2006) Province Leinster | County County Meath Elevation 61 m Local time Saturday 5:15 PM | |
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Weather 12°C, Wind NE at 13 km/h, 53% Humidity | ||
Ráth Chairn (English: Rathcarne or Rathcarran) is a small village and Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) in County Meath, Ireland. It is about 55 km northwest of Dublin.
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Map of Rathcarran, Co. Meath, Ireland
Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht was founded in 1935 when 41 families from Conamara were settled on land previously acquired by the Irish Land Commission. Each family was provided with a Land Commission house and a farm of approximately 8.9 hectares (22 acre), a sow, piglets and basic implements. A further 11 families joined the original settlers in 1935. In all, 443 people moved from Connemara to the Ráth Chairn area. In 1967 Ráth Chairn received official recognition as a Gaeltacht, following a local campaign. Today, it and the nearby village of Baile Ghib make up the Meath Gaeltacht.
A cooperative (the "Ráth Chairn Cooperation Society") was formed in 1973. Ráth Chairn has since grown into a village with a Catholic church, community hall for dramas, Corchumann Ráth Chairn and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (also used by Coláiste na bhFiann during the summer months), sports facilities, an all-Irish primary and secondary school, a library and a pub (An Breadán Feasa).
Several facilities in Ráth Chairn host children and adults wishing to learn Irish, and residential Irish language courses are run for teenagers in the summer months.