Irish Language
County Cork has two Gaeltacht areas where the Irish language is the primary medium of everyday speech. These are Múscraí (Muskerry) in the north of the county, especially the villages of Cúil Aodha (Coolea) and Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary), and Oileán Chléire (Cape Clear Island), an island in the west.
There are 14,829 Irish language speakers in County Cork with 3,660 native speakers in the Cork Gaeltacht. In addition there are 6,273 who attend the 21 Gaelscoils and six Gaelcholáiste all across the county. According to the Irish Census 2006 there are 4,896 people in the county who identify themselves as being daily Irish speakers outside of the education system.
Ballingeary is an important centre for Irish-language tuition, with an active summer school, Coláiste na Mumhan, or the College of Munster.
Read more about this topic: County Cork
Famous quotes containing the words irish and/or language:
“I was the rector’s son, born to the anglican order,
Banned for ever from the candles of the Irish poor;
The Chichesters knelt in marble at the end of a transept
With ruffs about their necks, their portion sure.”
—Louis MacNeice (1907–1963)
“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)