Lingualia LingualiaEurope’s regional and minority languages

Languages · Celtic languages

Irish

Spoken in : Ireland, United Kingdom

01. Data about the language

Language group

Indo-European / Celtic

Area

Irish is spoken by a number of families and communities scattered throughout the six counties of Northern Ireland.
The arrival of Celtic population in Ireland goes back to the III or IVth century BC. At the time of christianisation (Vth AC) Irish was spoken by most people.
The anglo-normand invasions of the XII and XIIIth century brought English as a language in Ireland. Irish culture and the language liveliness persisted in spite of official prohibitions (the law of 1537 was the strongest prohibition of the language). Irish literature goes back to the VIIth century and is therefore one of the eldest written language in Europe.

Updated, sourced data, checked on 14 October 2026 · scope : Irlande ; Royaume-Uni (Irlande du Nord)

Numerical strength

Ireland, 2022 Census: almost 1.9 million people aged 3 and over (about 40%) said they could speak Irish, 112,500 more than in 20161. Of these, 195,029 said they spoke it very well, 593,898 well and 1,034,132 not well1. Nearly 72,000 people speak it daily outside the education system (about 1,900 fewer than in 2016) and just over 115,000 weekly1. In the Gaeltacht, just over 20,000 people speak it daily, 31% of Irish speakers there1.

Northern Ireland, 2021 Census: 228,617 people aged 3 and over (12.4%) have some ability in Irish; 126,743 (6.9%) can speak it, of whom 43,557 speak it daily2.

Status

European Union: Irish, an official and working language of the EU since 2007 under a derogation limiting translation, gained full status on 1 January 2022, when that derogation ended3.

Ireland: the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021, enacted on 22 December 2021, replaces public bodies' language schemes with language standards and sets the objective that 20% of new recruits to the public service be proficient in Irish by 20304.

Northern Ireland: the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022 contains provisions on the Irish language and creates an Irish Language Commissioner5.

Public services

Ireland: under the 2021 Act, public bodies must place at least 20% of their annual advertising in Irish, use logos in Irish or in both languages, provide application forms in Irish and reply on social media in the language used; a deadline is to be set for all State services in the Gaeltacht to be available in Irish4.

Education

Northern Ireland, 2025–26: 7,811 pupils are in Irish-medium education in 86 settings (1,009 pre-school, 4,731 primary, 2,071 post-primary)6. The Department of Education has a duty to encourage and facilitate the development of Irish-medium education6.

Media

The Irish-language channel TG4 was watched in 2024 by over 80% of the Irish population (3.73 million people); its average audience share reached 2.2%, its highest since 2009, making it the country's 7th most-watched channel7. Its online player recorded 4.3 million views (+23%)7.

02. Poem

Listen to the poem

Restored version (background noise reduced, level evened out) · 1:00 · Download · unprocessed original (MP3 11,025 kHz, mono)

Original Translation
Cuirt an Mheadhan Oidhche
The Court of Midnight
Ba ghnáth mé ar siúl le ciumhais na habhann Ar bháinseach úr is an drúcht go trom, In aice na gcoillte i gcoim an tsléibhe Gan mhairg gan mhoill ar shoilseadh an lae Do ghealadh mo chroí nuair chin Loch Gréine An talamh, an tír, is íor na spéire Ba thaitneamhach aoibhinn suíomh na sléibhte Ag bagairt a gcinn thar dhroim a chéile. Ghealfadh an croí bheadh críon le cianta Caite gan bhrí nó líonta le pianta An séithleach searbh gan sealbh gan saibhreas D’fhéachfadh tamall thar bharra na gcoillte Ar lachain ina scuain ar chuan gan cheo, An eala ar a bhfuaid is í ag gluaiseacht leo Na héisc le meidhir ag éirí anairde , Péirse i radharc go taibhseach tarrbhreac Dath an locha agus gorm na dtonn Ag teacht go tolgach torannach trom, Bhíodh éanlaith i gcrann go meidhreach mómhar, Léimneach eilte i gcoillte im chóngar, Géimneach adharc is radharc ar shlóite, Tréanrith gadhar is Reynard rompu.
It was my custom to meander with the river in sight Through the fresh meadows laden with dew, Near the woods by the mountain-side At the dawn of the day, without fear or fright, I’d set out It would gladden my heart to find Loch Graney, And the country around it, to the edge of the skies. Oh how I delighted in the mountains Fighting for heaven, on each other’s back. It would gladden my ageing heart Spent without caution or care The sorry outcast without riches To see beyond the wood tops The ducks peacefully paddling, Tailing the swan on her majestic way, The fish energetically leaping And of the perch, a speckled sight, The blue mass on the tinted lake Racing ashore with a thunderous force, The birds in the trees gayly singing, As the deer sprint through the woods, To see huntsmen with blaring bugles, As after Reynard the hounds are chasing.
Brian Merriman

03. Linguistic description

Irish is a Celtic language of the Goidelic branch2. Sentences begin with the verb, followed by the subject and then the object1. It has no indefinite article, and its pronouns make no politeness distinction1.

Sources

The 2003 CD had no description of this language: this text was written for the site from the sources below.

  1. WALS Online – Irish, World Atlas of Language Structures, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 2013 (v2026).
  2. Glottolog 5.3 – Irish, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 2025.

04. Cartoon

Scéal an Lae | Puifín Beag agus an Ubh | Sinéad Ní Uallacháin 🐧📚
Story read over pictures (no cartoon found) · 5 min 33 s · channel: Cúla4 · YouTube

Video hosted on YouTube and published by the channel shown; its author may remove it at any time.