There are even fewer daily speakers of Irish than a recent study of the Gaeltacht would seem to indicate. I've included some stats and a map below.
2007 saw the release of
http://www.pobail.ie/en/AnGhaeltacht/LinguisticStudyoftheGaeltacht A Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the Usage of Irish in the Gaeltacht (Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, NUI) Previous discussion w/ figures
http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=28219 Unfortunately the study, which was largely carried out in 2004 and 2005, had to rely heavily on 2002 census data. This was before people had the option of indicating whether they spoke Irish daily:
- within the education system only
- within and also outside the education system
- outside education system only
http://beyond2020.cso.ie/censusasp/saps/Pages/Select_Theme_Table6_Live.asp Using calculations based on the 2006 Census, I've found that even in the strongest Gaeltachtaí, the number of daily Irish speakers as a whole is significantly greater than those who use it outside the education system (i.e. in their day-to-day lives).
Take for example, the Electoral Division of Garmna--Ceantar na nOileán, Galway. It recorded the highest percentage of daily speakers in the entire country in the 2002 census, at 92.2% (1,148 people out of a age 3+ population of 1,245). In the '06 census, the population was at 1,248...of which 1,190 people stated that they were Irish speakers. That's 95.4%! But if we narrow it down to those who use it outside the education system daily...it's 785. 785 of 1,248 = 62.9%.
It's much the same in Leitir Móir. 796 out of 848 total = 93.9% but......only 549 of 848 said they used it outside the education system daily...which is 64.7%. The strongest ED in Donegal is Mín an Chladaigh (centred around Gaoth Dobhair), where 91.8% put themselves down as Irish speakers (1,161 out of 1,265). Once again, when it came to those who spoke it daily outside of school, it was a lot lower...at 63%. 800 out of 1,265. The percentages are even lower (50-60%) in the rapidly dwindling fíor-gaeltachtaí in Kerry (Iarthar Dhuibhne).
The good news, if we can take anything out of it, is that in the strongest areas, the vast majority of people speak Irish. It's well over 80% in much of South Conamara and parts of NW Donegal. However, for some reason, only about two thirds of speakers are using it as their first language, if we take the census data in good faith.
Another way to evaluate the health of the language is to look at the data for the
http://www.pobail.ie/en/AnGhaeltacht/GaeltachtSchemes/SceimLabhairtnaGaeilge/ Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge (SLG). It's a scheme that can pay a grant to Gaeltacht families with school age children 5 and up and who use Irish as their normal spoken language in the home. The map I made is one BASED (but not reproduced from) the study. It only shows areas where 65%+ of families received the FULL SLG GRANT in 2003/2004. Nothing else was included. This, along with the data on daily speakers of Irish outside the education system mentioned above, is the best method of gauging the current state of the language in the Gaeltacht.
Light blue shading = 65-74.9%
Dark blue = 75-100%
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4435/copyofgaeltachtslg20032qa8.png It would seem the only areas where the future of the language is guaranteed in the medium-term is south Conamara (Ceantar na nOiléan, An Cheathrú Rua, Ros Muc, Cill Chiaráin) and Oileáin Árann. Not sure about Ros a' Mhíl, Indreabhán or An Spidéal.
Gort a' Choirce, Oileán Thorai and the area around Gaoth Dobhair (Cnoc Fola) seem strong still.
The Mayo Gaeltacht is on the verge of complete collapse, aside from the village of Ceathrú Thaidhg which is that little speck way in the north of the county.
In Kerry, it seems it's down to An Fheothanach and Baile na nGall. Even Dún Chaoin and An Buailtín (Baile an Fheirtéaraigh) didn't reach the 65% mark.
Nor did An Rinn, Cúil Aodha, Ráth Cairn or Árainn Mhór.
The map of the original 1926 Gaeltacht boundaries can be found on page 19 of
http://www.pobail.ie/en/AnGhaeltacht/LinguisticStudyoftheGaeltacht/file,8678,en. pdf]this portion of the study.
The revised 1961 boundary map is on page 45. The full SLG map is on page 72.
Are you at all surprised by these figures?
