Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language

The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (SPIL) was a cultural organisation in 19th-century Ireland, which was part of the Gaelic revival of the period.

It was founded on 29 December 1876. Unlike similar organisations of the time, which were antiquarian in nature, the SPIL aimed at protecting the status of the Irish language, which was threatened with extinction at the time. The society succeeded in having Irish included on the curriculum of primary and secondary schools and third-level colleges.

The membership of the SPIL included Protestant Ascendancy figures such as Lord de Vesci and Colonel W. E. A. Macdonnell. Horace Plunkett represented the Society at the 1901 Pan-Celtic Congress in Dublin. It took a conciliatory approach to the British government and civil service in pursuing its aims, in contrast to the later Gaelic League, which was anti-British in character.

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