Northern Irish police officers and Unionist politicians sign up to learn Irish

AmericanFenian – Let’s get even more real and recognise that there are no monolingual Irish speakers on the island of Ireland, let alone the ‘occupied counties’….you don’t say who the occupiers are, but I bet they’ve been in residence a lot longer than your fenian forebears have in the US?

Sirpete – The Gaeltacht increase based on your figures is less than 1 per cent per year. So how does one become a passive Irish speaker? Is it by standing next to someone who is speaking Irish?

Kilsally. I get the same feeling.But to be honest I can't see to many people in Ireland ticking the box as being an Irish speaker if they only have a few words.The Census is taken serious.Most Irish people can string a few words together,but I think we know the difference between that and been able to hold a basic conversation in Irish.They are only fooling themselves if they lie.I can't see to many people doing that on the census form.I have seen plenty census forms and have seen plenty corrections in people's age ect even if the mistake is only by one year.But it shows people take it serious.

Should not the Northern Irish learn to read and write first.

Is breá liom an piosa seo. Níl teangacha polaitiúl. Is daoine polaitiúl iad. Is teanga urlis neodrach é.( I love this article. Languages are not political. People are political. Language is a neutral tool.) I am a Texas who enjoys studying the Irish language. I am fluent in Spanish and we have had Spanish and English as our legal languages since 1845. It has served us well and hasn't hurt our identity. It has probably made us better citizens. Regardless of why the Irish lost their language, it is a treasure that belongs to "Irish" all over the world including the diaspora in America.

George your arrogance is only superseded by your ignorance.BTW your only experise is bullsh..t.

The census figures are overly optimistic with people who know a dozen words ticking the box as being a Irish speaker. Been up around the donegal Gaeltacht and never heard anyone speaking Irish - plenty of signange in Irish, indeed we were giving out gospel tracts which were partly in Irish.

Well Georgy Boy.You like facts and figures do ya?Census data, in 2006 22,471 Gaeltacht dwellers used the language on a daily basis,up from 21,626 in 2002 (both these figures exclude children using the language on a daily basis in the education system).OUTSIDE the Gaeltacht (and again excluding usage in the education system)Irish was used on a daily basis by 49,500 speakers in 2006.That's 71,971 people speaking Irish on a daily basis.More and more people are becoming passive speakers of Irish (who watch Irish language TV, listen to Irish language radio, read Irish language newspapers and magazines) with an estimated 10% (400,000 ) of the population of the Republic who would be classified as fluent, near fluent or reasonably good passive speakers.600 Irish-language primary/secondary schools and creches.(Languages of Ireland-Wiki)Where is your proof of expertise Georgy Boy.Lets be having it?

Could the RUC... er.... the PSNI being running out of interpreters!

George is spot on. The only time I have ever heard Irish spoken is on TV. The written language is much more evident. I hear Polish and other Eastern European languages, Chinese and Portuguese daily. Have to disagree regarding the Garda though George - until last year, like all civil servants in the Irish Republic you had to have Irish language as an exam pass to get into the force (now you just need a second language not specifically Irish). I`m afraid Irish as a language is in the same boat as Welsh, Manx Gaelic, Scots / Ulster-Scots, Scots Gaelic & Cornish

seanomelbourne: If you don't like facts and reality, stick to reading posts from sirpeter aka trealach and other clowns. I am posting from a position of expertise not matched by anyone else. A poster such as hughed is utterly uninformed. I'll ignore the fact that he couldn't read my note (he talks of those who "speak" Irish, I wrote of native speakers of the language--totally different thing). I base my 1% figure on facts. The population of the 26 County state is say four and a half million. Of these, well over half a million are foreign migrants, who have consistently shown no interest in learning Irish. That leaves four million. One per cent of four million is 40,000, which is about the figure generally accepted for native speakers of Irish. All of these are bilingual English-Irish, and many of them are English dominant bilinguals. There are sporadic and scattered cases of children who are raised thru Irish outside the Gaeltacht--indeed a relative of mine is raising his children thru Irish--but the numbers are insufficient to make much difference nationally. But if you're incapable of following this analysis, here's a quick way to refute it: take a walk down O'Connell Street in Dublin, or Patrick Street in Cork, or High Street in Kilkenny. According to hughed, one person in twenty, or one conversation in twenty that you overhear will be in Irish. The fact of course is that you could walk up and down these streets all day and you'd hear English, Urdu, Chinese, Polish, Lingala etc. etc. But not a word of Irish would pass over your eardrums. Wise up, hughed.

A great way forward for full integration of all Irish people regardless of religion.George I sit and ponder that maybe one day you'll make a positive statement,but the years are catching up on me.

I can't understand such ridiculous statements as the one by george d...who claims 1% of the Irish speak Irish Gaelic. The reality is that 5% speak Irish Gaelic (Gaeilge) on a daily basis (eg my hundred cousins speak it in the home all the time in Donegal), about 15% speak it occasionally & about 30% have some understanding of it. This is about the same ratio as Scotland & Wales.

GeorgeDillon- Jezzze, calm down. What I meant was Irish is the native language of the Republic of Ireland. I don't care if only 2 people speak it. My comment was basicly retorical! That IRELAND will be one country. So save the pro-british attitude for someone else. Now we have 3 people who speak it when they learn it. Feel better?

"the language of the country they will be a part of!" That's complete nonsense, stephendoyle. Currently, in the 26 Counties, Irish is the native language of at most 1% of the people. In a united Ireland, a country of some 6 millions, Irish would be the native language of much less than 1%. And you claim that the language of less than 1% is the language of the country? You're nuts.