Editing Gaeltacht (section)

===Meath Gaeltacht===
The [[County Meath|Meath]] Gaeltacht ({{lga|Gaeltacht [Chontae] na Mí}})<ref>[http://www.udaras.ie/index.php/roghchlr_corparideach_/an_ghaeltacht/larscileanna_den_ghaeltacht_/ire/an_mh/1733 udaras.ie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527173446/http://www.udaras.ie/index.php/roghchlr_corparideach_/an_ghaeltacht/larscileanna_den_ghaeltacht_/ire/an_mh/1733 |date=27 May 2011 }}</ref> is the smallest Gaeltacht area and consists of the two villages of [[Ráth Cairn]] and [[Baile Ghib]]. [[Navan]], {{convert|8|km|0|abbr=on}} from Baile Ghib, is the main urban centre within the region, with a population of more than 20,000. The Meath Gaeltacht has a population of 1,771<ref>{{cite web|url=http://census.cso.ie/sapmap2011/Results.aspx?Geog_Type=GA&Geog_Code=06 |title=Gaeltacht Area Meath |publisher=[[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|Central Statistics Office]] |year=2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203021734/http://census.cso.ie/sapmap2011/Results.aspx?Geog_Type=GA&Geog_Code=06 |archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref> and represents 2% of the total Gaeltacht population. The Meath Gaeltacht encompasses a geographical area of {{convert|44|km²|abbr=on}}. This represents 1% of the total Gaeltacht land area.

The Meath Gaeltacht has a history quite different from that of the country's other Irish speaking regions. The Ráth Cairn Gaeltacht was founded in 1935 when 41 families from [[Connemara]] in West Galway were resettled on land previously acquired by the Irish Land Commission. Each was given {{convert|9|ha}} to farm. Baile Ghib (formerly Gibbstown) was settled in the same way in 1937, along with Baile Ailin (formerly Allenstown). In the early years, a large percentage of the population returned to [[Galway]] or emigrated, but enough Irish speakers remained to ensure that Ráth Cairn and Baile Ghib were awarded Gaeltacht status in 1967. The original aim of spreading the Irish language into the local community met with no success, and the colonists had to become bilingual.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Nancy|last=Stenson|title=Language Report: Rath Cairn, the youngest Gaeltacht|journal=Éire-Ireland|date=Spring 1986|pages=107–118}}</ref>