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The Irish language

Irish (Gaeilge) is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language only by a small minority of the Irish population but is also used as a second language by a larger and expanding minority. It also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state and is used across the country in a variety of media, personal contexts and social situations. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland, and it is an official language of the European Union. Irish is also an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland.

Irish is the main community and household language of 3% of the Republic’s population^[2] (which was estimated at 4,422,100 in 2008).^[3] Estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 up to 80,000 people.^[4][5][6][7] Areas in which the language remains a vernacular are referred to as Gaeltacht areas.

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