How many people speak fluent Irish?
The 2001 Northern Ireland Census indicated that 167, 459 people, or 10.4% of the population had some knowledge of Irish. The vast majority (154, 622 people) were Catholics and 1.2 % (10, 987 people) were Protestants and other Christians. Levels of fluency are more difficult to measure as they are not recorded by the Census. 106, 785 people ticked the can speak Irish in the 2001 Census, but this is no indication of any level of fluency. When considering the numbers of Irish-speakers, one must also consider the education system. Four thousand children are enrolled in Irish-medium education, including nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools. Irish is the third most popular language subject (after French and Spanish) at post-primary level in English-medium schools. In 2008, 246 people sat GCE A-Level examinations in Irish. The figures for other A-Level languages were: French 716; Spanish 440; and German 164. Diarmuid Mac Giolla Chrost (2000), in his research is this area, has esti
