Editing Goidelic languages (section)

==Irish==
{{Main article|Irish language}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=January 2023}}
Irish is one of the [[Republic of Ireland]]'s two official languages along with [[English language|English]]. Historically the predominant language of the island, it is now mostly spoken in parts of the south, west, and northwest. The legally defined Irish-speaking areas are called the {{lang|ga|[[Gaeltacht]]}}; all government institutions of the Republic, in particular the [[Oireachtas|parliament]] (''{{lang|ga|Oireachtas}}''), its [[Seanad Éireann|upper house]] (''{{lang|ga|Seanad}}'') and [[Dáil Éireann|lower house]] (''{{lang|ga|Dáil}}''), and the [[Taoiseach|prime minister]] (''{{lang|ga|Taoiseach}}'') have official names in this language, and some are only officially referred to by their Irish names even in English. At present, the {{lang|ga|Gaeltachtaí}} are primarily found in Counties [[County Cork|Cork]], [[County Donegal|Donegal]], [[County Mayo|Mayo]], [[County Galway|Galway]], [[County Kerry|Kerry]], and, to a lesser extent, in [[County Waterford|Waterford]] and [[County Meath|Meath]]. In the Republic of Ireland 1,774,437 (41.4% of the population aged three years and over) regard themselves as able to speak Irish to some degree.<ref name="csoi2011">{{cite web |url=http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?maintable=CDD31&PLanguage=0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104124638/http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?maintable=CDD31&PLanguage=0 |archive-date=2017-11-04 |title=CDD31: Population Aged Three Years and Over and Percentage of Irish Speakers by Age Group, Sex, CensusYear and Statistic |website=Central Statistics Office Ireland}}</ref> Of these, 77,185 (1.8%) speak Irish on a daily basis outside school.<ref name="csoi2011"/> Irish is also undergoing a revival in [[Northern Ireland]] and has been accorded some legal status there under the 1998 [[Good Friday Agreement]] but its official usage remains divisive to certain parts of the population. The 2001 census in [[Irish language in Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland showed]] that 167,487 (10.4%) people "had some knowledge of Irish".{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} Combined, this means that around one in three people ({{circa|1.85 million}}) on the island of Ireland can understand Irish at some level.

[[File:Irish speakers in 2011.png|thumb|Regions where respondents stated they could speak Irish from 2011]]
Despite the ascent in Ireland of the English and Anglicised ruling classes following the 1607 [[Flight of the Earls]] (and the disappearance of much of the Gaelic nobility), Irish was spoken by the majority of the population until the later 18th century, with a huge impact from the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] of the 1840s. Disproportionately affecting the classes among whom Irish was the primary spoken language, famine and emigration precipitated a steep decline in native speakers, which only recently has begun to reverse.<ref>{{cite web |last=Coleman |first=Karen |title=Gaelic enjoys a revival in Ireland |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1110628.stm |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=27 November 2012 |date=10 January 2001}}</ref>

The Irish language has been recognised as an official and working language of the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/education/official-languages-eu-0_en |title=Official languages of the EU – Education and training – European Commission |website=Education and training|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref> Ireland's national language was the twenty-third to be given such recognition by the EU and previously had the status of a treaty language.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/irish-becomes-the-23rd-official-language-of-eu-430615.html |title=Irish becomes the 23rd official language of EU |date=2007-01-03 |work=The Independent|location=London |access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>