The number of people who can speak Irish increased by 6% to around 112,000 since 2016, according to the 2022 census conducted by the Central Statistics Office (SCO) came out in late December last year.
With 50.3%, Co. Galway tops the list as the county that has the highest proportion of Irish speakers, followed by Co. Clare (47.1%) and Co. Cork (44.8%).
Talking about the factors that contributed to this increase, Seosamh MacDonnacha, academic coordinator from the College of Arts, Social, Science and Celtic Study, University of Galway said the investment by the government and the support from the public plays a part in it “primarily through the education system but also in other areas such as Irish language radio and TV stations, Irish language voluntary organisation, support for individuals and communities who have Irish as a first language etc.”
“Research from the early 1970s continues to show that a majority of Irish people consider the Irish language to be an important part of their cultural heritage and identity,” he added.
As supportive of the language as the public is, some are sceptical of the current language policy, especially in education.
Critics have said that having Irish as a compulsory subject in schools is a waste of time that, according to them, can be spent on learning other more useful languages like French.
In response, Mr MacDonnacha said people holding this opinion are “badly informed.”
“It is my view that of all of the language subjects taught in our education system (with the exception of English), Irish is the language that affords language graduates the greatest number of high-quality job opportunities (…) in education, radio and television broadcasting, in the public service etc.” he added
Ed Hick, a clerical officer from Foras na Gaeilge, an organization dedicated to promoting the Irish language, said the increase was “a cause of optimism.”
“In comparison with other European minoritised languages, this is a significant number and percentage of people forming the core Irish-speaking community and it bodes well for the future of the language,” said Mr Hick.
One thing of concern according to him however is a decline in the number of daily Irish speakers across the country, which saw around 300 less than the figure in 2016.
In this regard, Mr MacDonnacha said “Our programmes for teaching and learning Irish should be redesigned to include learning outcomes that include giving students the skills and knowledge required to use their knowledge of Irish on a regular basis within their social networks.”