Number claiming they speak Irish reaches 1.7 million
April 2, 2012
ALMOST 2pc of people speak a cupla focal on a daily basis outside of school.
The first detailed results of last year’s Census show the number of people who claim to be able to speak Irish increased by 7.1pc between 2006 and 2011 to 1.77 million people. But almost one in three (30.9pc) of 10 to 19-year-olds said they couldn’t speak the language.
In total 1.8pc of people said they spoke the language every day, 2.6pc used it weekly, while 14.3pc said they turned to it less often.
However, 12.2pc of people within the education system said they spoke the language daily, but only at schools and colleges.
More women than men speak the language — 44.9pc of females compared with 37.9pc of males.
Of the 1.77 million who said they could speak it, 77,185 used it daily outside the education system (up 5,037 since 2006), a further 110,642 use it weekly (up 7,781), while 613,236 used it less often (up 27,139).
One in four said they never used it.
The total population of all Gaeltacht areas in April last year was 96,628, up from 91,862 six years ago.
Of these, 66,238 or 68.5pc, indicated they could speak Irish.
IRISH INDEPENDENT
