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Today, Irish Gaelic is still spoken in Ireland, especially in certain regions where Irish is still the mother tongue of the Irish population. These regions are called “Gaeltacht”.
The Gaeltacht
These regions are few in number (see map opposite), due to the advanced anglicization of the rest of the country, and are all located on the west coast of the island: County Kerry, County Galway and Northern Ireland are mainly concerned.
In order to preserve the language, some of these regions have implemented a policy designed to avoid the decline of Irish at all costs. This policy includes the fact that education is exclusively in Irish (from primary to higher education), and that all road signs, advertising and publicity are in Irish.
In the Gaeltacht, you’ll of course be able to converse with a few Irish people in the language of Shakespeare.
But you should know that some make a point of expressing themselves in Gaelic, and show their pride in cultivating Gaelic culture to this day.
