Editing Gaeltacht (section)

==History==
[[File:Gaeltacht 1926.jpg|thumb|{{lang|ga|An Ghaeltacht}} 1926; areas of the island of Ireland which would have qualified for Gaeltacht status according to the first {{lang|ga|[[Coimisiún na Gaeltachta]]}}]]

[[File:Gaeltacht 1956.jpg|thumb|''An Ghaeltacht'' 1956]]
In 1926, the official {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} was designated as a result of the report of the first Gaeltacht Commission ''[[Coimisiún na Gaeltachta]]''. The exact boundaries were not defined. At the time, an area was classified as {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} if 80% or more of the population was Irish-speaking; however, partial-{{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} status was also accorded to many areas that did not meet the threshold, so long as they were at least 25% Irish-speaking. The [[Irish Free State]] recognised that there were predominantly Irish-speaking or semi-Irish-speaking districts in 7 of its 26 counties, covering 22 districts.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/handle/10379/2586 |title=Coimisiún na Gaeltachta Report |date=1925 |publisher=The Stationery Office |language=en}}</ref>

In the 1950s, another {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} Commission concluded that the {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} boundaries were ill-defined. It recommended that {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} status be based solely on the strength of language use in an area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ó Tuathaigh |first=M. A. G. |date=1990 |title=The Development of the Gaeltacht as a Bilingual Entity. |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED379921.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430162849/http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED379921.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-30 |url-status=live |pages=7–8}}</ref>

In 1956, under the [[Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1956]], the position of [[Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth|Minister for the Gaeltacht]] (now the [[Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media]]) was created. The same legislation allowed the government to designate areas as being {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} districts.<ref>{{Cite ISB|title=Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1956|year=1956|number=21|section=2|stitle=The Gaeltacht|date=5 June 1956}}</ref> They were initially defined precisely<ref>{{Cite ISB|title=Gaeltacht Areas Order 1956|year=1956|number=245|type=si|date=5 June 1956|signedby=[[Taoiseach]], [[John A. Costello]]}}</ref> and excluded many areas in which the number of Irish speakers had declined. {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} areas were recognised in seven of the state's 26 counties (nominally [[County Donegal|Donegal]], [[County Galway|Galway]], [[County Mayo|Mayo]], [[County Kerry|Kerry]], and [[County Waterford|Waterford]]).

Since then, the {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}} boundaries have been maintained with minor changes: the inclusion of [[Cloghane|An Clochán]] (''Cloghane'') and [[Brandon, County Kerry|Cé Bhréanainn]] (''Brandon'') in County Kerry in 1974; the inclusion of a part of West Muskerry in County Cork (although the Irish-speaking population had decreased markedly from what it had been before the 1950s); and the inclusion of [[Baile Ghib]] (''Gibstown)'' and [[Ráth Cairn|Ráth Chairn]] (''Rathcarran'') in [[County Meath]] in 1967.