One in five use Irish daily

Thursday July 17, 2003 22:33

by Pádraig Ó Ceithearnaigh

One person in five speaks the Irish language on a daily basis according to new statistics released from the Irish Central Statistics Office. Three quarters of the speakers are at school. 66.6% of the people surveyed said they had the ability to speak Irish but rarely spoke the language. They said that if they spoke it they would only use it on a weekly basis.

Across the country 1.57 million can speak Irish fluently. In 1996 1.43 million spoke the language and although the figures for 2003 seem to be positive they have to be regarded within the context that few people actually answered this question in the survey.

The largest number of speakers over the age of three in the country are in Galway. In Galway city the proportion of speakers has increased to 50.5%.

The Gaeltacht areas as a whole took a fall. It was plain to see from the figures released that the number of speakers in Gaeltacht areas had fallen dramatically since the last Census was carried out in 1996. In 1996 60% of Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht areas spoke Irish daily, in 2002 this number fell to 56%.

Seven years ago 5.9% of people in the Gaeltacht areas did not speak Irish and in 2002 7.4% of people in these regions refuse to speak Irish.

The amount of Irish speakers in each Gaeltacht region decreased apart from in County Meath where a small increase was revealed, from 59.5% to 60.6%. This in itself is only a meagre increase, but when it is taken into account that in all other regions there was a decrease then it is seen as an accomplishment in itself.

The area that fared worst in language terms was Waterford; the amount of speakers fell from 86.5% to 77.7%. Dublin (34.6%), Waterford (37.4%) and County Louth (36.3%) were stated as being the three worst areas.

Population changes and the migrant influx were not taken into account while compiling the statistics.

The census also reveals that more women than men actually speak the Irish language with an increase from 44.9% to 45.7%. The amount of men speaking the language fell from 41.2% to 39.7%.

With girls between the ages of 9 and 19 a notable increase is reflected in the amount of Irish language users (to nearly 65%). Although there are fewer boys in the same age group they also show a similar increase in usage.