While the Irish and world economies worry about what the future holds, the Irish language on the other hand is experiencing some what of a renaissance.
According to Department for Education annual statistical figures for 2007 over 32,000 students are being educated in all Irish speaking schools. This compares with figures of 13,600 back in 1976. The Gaelscoil's outside of the Ghaeltacht have experienced tremendous growth during this period. In 1976 approximately 10,700 students were attending Gaelscoils in the Ghaeltacht and 2,818 students were attending Gaelscoils throughout the rest of Ireland. Today the figures are 7,022 in the Ghaeltacht and 25,809 elsewhere.
There are many factors which may have helped the Irish language to become more prevalent. The gaelscoileanna which originated at the turn of the 20th century have certainly played their part. The success of the Gaelscoil has inspired similar projects in other European countries such as Scots-Gaelic, Manx-Gaelic, Basque, Occitan, Catalan and Breton schools.
Breandán Mac Craith communications and marketing representative from Foras na Gaeilge explained to The Epoch Times the role of this relatively new government body in promoting the Irish language and where its roots lie.
In the Good Friday Agreement, it was stated that a North/South Implementation body be set up to promote both the Irish language and the Ulster Scots language. Hence Foras na Gaeilge was the body set up on December 2nd 1999 to carry out this task with respect to the Irish language.
Foras na Gaeilge main task is to facilitate and encouraging the speaking and writing of Irish in the public and private arena in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland in accordance with part three of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
Mr Mac Craith said he thought the reasons for growth in popularity of the Irish language was that Ireland today was a much more confident country where people were more proud of their Irish heritage and its new role in Europe. “We are a much more confident nation and language is a very powerful tool to express ones identity especially in Europe.”
Mr Mac Craith mentioned the fact that we hear so many other languages spoken in Ireland today other than English that maybe this has helped Irish people to appreciate their own language more. Also the fact that Irish is now an official European language.
Other factors mentioned by Mr Mac Craith were the strength of Gaelscoils. He felt that perhaps parents were happy to send their kids to all Irish schools because they had not got the same opportunity to learn the language in such a positive setting when they were growing up.
The Gaelscoils are also involved in helping parents improve their Irish language skills, Micheal Mac Mathuna, chairman of Gaelscoil Balbriggan explained that they organised weekly classes in the local library for parents and the public to help promote the language.
