Irish Language in Northern Ireland

Irish Language In Northern Ireland

The Irish language (also known as Irish Gaelic) (Irish: Gaeilge) is a minority language in Northern Ireland. The dialect spoken there is known as Ulster Irish.

According to the 2001 Census, 167,487 people (10.4% of the population) had "some knowledge of Irish" with the highest concentrations of Irish speakers found in Belfast, Derry, Newry and south Armagh, central Tyrone (between Dungannon and Omagh), and southern County Londonderry (near Maghera).

Read more about Irish Language In Northern Ireland:  History, Status, Education, Media

Famous quotes containing the words northern ireland, irish, language, northern and/or ireland:

    For generations, a wide range of shooting in Northern Ireland has provided all sections of the population with a pastime which ... has occupied a great deal of leisure time. Unlike many other countries, the outstanding characteristic of the sport has been that it was not confined to any one class.
    —Northern Irish Tourist Board. quoted in New Statesman (London, Aug. 29, 1969)

    Hindered characters
    seldom have mothers
    in Irish stories, but they all have grandmothers.
    Marianne Moore (1887–1972)

    A mind enclosed in language is in prison.
    Simone Weil (1909–1943)

    ‘What is the world, O soldiers?
    It is I,
    I, this incessant snow,
    This northern sky;
    Walter De La Mare (1873–1956)

    Come, fix upon me that accusing eye.
    I thirst for accusation. All that was sung.
    All that was said in Ireland is a lie
    Breed out of the contagion of the throng,
    Saving the rhyme rats hear before they die.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)