Culture Ireland monitored sean nós singer’s Galway 2020 tweet

The Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht appears to be monitoring social media for negative commentary about Galway 2020, the European Capital of Culture.

Earlier this year, Róisín Elsafty, a native Irish speaker and sean nós singer, tweeted the following about Galway 2020:

Feicim clár iontach ceoil réitigh amach ag @galway2020 @Gaillimh2020 ach seachas Céilí at crossroads le Comhaltas, ní fheicim ceol Gaelach ársa Gaillimheach nó Gaeltachta á reachtáil mar atá leagaithe amach don cheol clasaiceach- nó an bhfuil sé ansin is nílím á fheiceáil?

— Róisín Elsafty (@AuldSofty) February 24, 2020

It very loosely translates as ‘Galway 2020 has a great music programme, but it looks to be mostly classical music, and there isn’t much traditional Irish music, or is it there and I’m just not seeing it?’.

The tweet was spotted by someone in the Department, who copied and pasted it to colleagues in Culture Ireland, a division of the Department’s that deals with the company Galway 2020, set up to deliver the Capital of Culture.

The email accompanying the tweet, sent to Sinead O’Hara in the Department and Christine Sisk in Culture Ireland, was released under Freedom of Information.

It said: “Hi there, just FYI [for your information], Prominent sean-nós singer, Róisín Elsafty, has started a conversation on Facebook and Twitter about what she perceives as the lack of “native/Irish language” content in the Galway 2020 programme . . .”

The following day, O’Hara and Sisk attended a meeting with Galway 2020 representatives at its offices on Merchants Road. According to the minutes of the meeting, Galway 2020 CEO Patricia Philbin was present. Whether they raised Róisín Elsafty’s concerns is unclear from the minutes.

The Sunday Independent revealed recently that Department of Justice officials were monitoring celebrities, politicians and the general public, who criticise Direct Provision on social media, among them Marian Keyes and Hozier.

Róisín Elsafty is in good company then but why is officialdom obsessed with Big Brother surveillance? For more Bradley Bytes, see this week's Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.