An Ennis Irish language activist says he doesn’t believe that half the population of Clare can speak Irish.
A Central Statistics Office report has listed Clare as second only to Galway County in terms of the amount of Irish speakers as a percentage of overall population.
Clare’s relationship with the Irish language has come under the spotlight following the finding that this county has the second-highest proportion of Irish speakers nationwide.
The CSO’s ‘Irish Language and Education’ report has revealed that based on last year’s Census data, 54,437 Clare people can speak some level of Irish, which equates to over 47% of the population.
Lissycasey has the highest proportion of Irish speakers of any area in Clare, at 59%, followed by Kilmurry, Cratloe, Crusheen and Ardnacrusha.
By contrast, just 32% of the population of Whitegate speak the language, while Quilty, Kilrush, Kilkee and Shannon also have a notably low proportion of Gaeilgeoirs.
Despite the fact that 40% of people nationwide claimed to have Irish, 473,000 of these admit to never speaking it in their daily lives.
Ennis-based Irish language activist Macdara Ó Conaola believes that in spite of the figures, many people view the Irish language as a novelty.
You can listen to the full interview here:
While the percentage of people in Clare who speak Irish has remained the same since the last Census, it is down 2% from 2011.
The government’s effectiveness in promoting the language been regularly criticised by activists, with organisations such as Conradh na Gaeilge claiming that the responsibility for promoting the language has fallen on their shoulders.
Secretary of An Clár as Gaeilge, Domhnall Ó Loinsigh, says in order to keep the language relevant, the state must provide professional and commercial opportunities to speak it.
You can listen to the full interview below.
