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When will Irish die out as a community language in the Gaeltacht?

  • 03-07-2012 12:26pm
    #1
    somairle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭


    According to the article today, only 17000 people live in an area of the Gaeltacht where Irish is the primary community language. Around 50% of the Gaeltacht population do not live in are area where Irish is the main spoken languages.

    Breakdown of people by category
    17000 people - A - 67%/+ daily Irish speaking - Irish dominant as community language
    10000 people - B - 44%-66% daily Irish speaking - English dominant, with large Irish speaking minority
    17000 people - C - 43%/- daily Irish speaking - English dominant, but with Irish speaking minority much higher than the national average
    51000 people - areas which no longer meet any of the above criteria

    So we can see since the 1956 Gaeltacht boundaries were set up there has been a continuing shift towards the death of Irish as a community language and now we have a ridiculous (and sad) situation where money is being spent on English speaking communities who are officially in the Gaeltacht. 17000 people are minute in the grand scheme of things and surely this is irreversible at this stage.

    The Gaeltacht Bill allows for the removal of areas from the Gaeltacht which in my opinion will be good as resources will be focused on areas where Irish is actually spoken today, but are we outside a pub doing the business against the wind here?

    When will Irish die out as the primary community language? 20 years? If you don't think it will, how do you think the trend will be reversed?

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0703/1224319264356.html

    p.s. I am well aware how heated Irish language debates get, so for the record I am for Irish, I have been learning Irish for a few years. Lets try and keep the discussion on the above facts; Gaeltacht, decline, community, language.


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