Recruitment Eire

LANGUAGE IN IRELAND

Gaelic (Gaeige in Irish) is Ireland's official language, but English is spoken in most parts of the coutry. Along the west coast of Ireland and in some small areas of Canada and Argentina there are still some people who use Irish as their daily language. Overall there is only 1 % - 8 % (depending on the area) of the Irish population who have a certain level of fluency. If this trend continues the Irish language will soon become extinct.

The regions in which Irish is spoken as a native language are called "Gaeltachtai". Connemara and Aran are the two areas with the highest Irish-speaking population. Irish falls into three main dialects (Munster Irish, Connacht Irish and Ulster).

Munster Irish is sub-classified into Decies Irish, which is widely spoken in Waterford, and the rest of Munster Irish. People from Coolea, Country Cork, Dungarvan and other areas also use the Munster Irish dialect. The Aran Islands and Connemara have a distinctive Connacht Irish dialect. The regions of Tourmakeady, Joyce County and southern Mayo speak a dialect which is considered the closest to Middle Irish. Northern Mayo does have a similarity to Ulster Irish but belongs to the Connacht dialect due to its grammar and word building.The Ulster Irish dialect has various words with shades of meaning and some uncommon Scots Gaelic features which make it sound differently to the other dialects. Ulster Irish is still spoken in the area around Rosses.