Irish now the third most spoken language in Ireland after English and Polish

Stropaire, This household will continue to use Irish regardless of how even Irish people in Eirinn feel about it. The Chinese and other non-Gaels will come. I will continue to use Irish even if they fill up Eire from end to end. Tir gan teanga, tir gan anam.

Jacers - Thanks...Never noticed the 'ALT GR' key before...so what about 'SYSRQ', 'INS' and all those odd symbols on the Effin 'F' keys???

ha,ha!

I want it in notes please.€20 notes will do me just fine. If you pay with a card, I'll have to pay a bank charge. Those banks are crippling me with their fees already.

I DO have an irish place of birth-Kilburn, you can't get more Irish than that (only Hoboken NJ would come close!)

Ciara, seeing as you are giving the passports away for next to nothing, could I have 5 please? Do you take platinum cards, or will €500 notes do? Ta.

Thanks Jacers, now i am one step ahead of the bunch!

JACERS TYPING SECRETS FROM HIS 150-KEY KEYBOARD. In typing Irish words, to place the fada over a vowel, hold down the Alt Gr button and tap the vowel to get á, é, í, ó and ú. To get the Saxon inflexions or to type words from any other language, just copy and paste from some other eejit’s web page and adjust for font and font size. This secret knowledge gives you δύναμις over a keyboard.

It would be easy to kinda agree with Stropaire but if he was in Ireland he would know that Irish is spoken regularly in Gaeltacht areas, is taught in schools and there are many Gaelic-speaking clubs around the country. Many foreign people come to Ireland’s summer schools to learn Irish or to improve on what they already might have. However, I do believe Irish will eventually be classified a classical language like Latin, but hey – to follow Stropaire’s point – Latin is the main communication language between all Catholic priests all round the globe, one they have to learn in the same way as English is the main communication language of aviation. I doubt Irish will remain in third place as a spoken language in Ireland for much longer... There’s a place somewhere around Athlone already earmarked to build a Chinese business hub. The Chinese will soon be coming to Ireland in droves and their language will take over in 2nd place from Polish! 你意识到??

Stropaire, a language is only dead when no one wants to learn it or speak it and there are plenty who still love Irish and incorporate it into their everyday lives. Just because a small population speaks it doesnt mean its not important or obsolete. Id love to see all primary schools as gaelscoileanna in the same way that all primary schools on Wales are Welsh speaking but I doubt its gonna happen.

Isn't it about time we faced facts; whether we like it or not, Irish is a dead language. It is not the number of people that are able to speak a language that defines whether it is alive or not, it's the number of people who think in that language. Unless a critical mass of people think in the language it cannot develop and evolve other than by assimilating words from other languages to deal with the progress of the world. Unless sufficient people across the spectrum of world society think in any language, it does not carry it's own weight by adding to the words in existence but just absorbing words from others without returning anything. Eventually the language will be incapable of communicating anything of the newer developements other than by use of another language randomly inserted within itself. Remember the first duty of a language is to enable communication. If an other language enables this in a more efficient manner, is there not the danger of miscommunication if one insists on using a dead one for anything other than cultural gretification

By the way Dildo, Dexter is my fav tv show so cheers for reminding me the new series should be starting soon!

Is that why you left Georgie? Did a smarter foreigner take your job? Jacers, Ive just heard that the donations to all those organisations have shot up in the past 24 hours! thanks a mill you little dote ye!

curitiba: "-looks like ciara IS the arbiter of irishness. We must send her our passport applications and let her decide whether we can have one or not". Luckily I already have my Irish passport, tho I wouldn't let that fool caradexter make any decision concerning me. She's a loudmouth imbecile. I'm hoping she'll emigrate from Ireland and let a smart Bosnian or Burundi take her place.

My mother was one of those who could speak Irish but didso seldom, only with certain relatives, with much laughing, and what they were talking about they did not want the children to understand. Apparently it was easier to talk about earthy things and respectful things in a disrespectful way in Irish than in English. Her great grandparents preserved speaking and writing Irish, as well as English, in the home after Catholic Emancipation, when Irish was abandoned in their area. The family continued to pass it down until the generation after independence. Now relatives learn Irish in school, but never speak it except for certain phrases.