Is the Irish language in danger of extinction?
With the increased prosperity of Ireland which has brought with it the onslaught of international television, widespread access to the Internet and other English language media, the influx of multi nationals, the Irish language has an uphill struggle to remain a live language. Following an analysis of Government statistics on Irish language by Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology lecturer Donncha O hEallaithe, was quoted by The Irish Examiner January 06, 2003 as saying that “at the foundation of the state 80 years ago, there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi-Irish-speaking areas. That number was now between 20,000 and 30,000” James McCloskey Professor of Linguistics at University of California, Santa Cruz in his book Voices silenced – has Irish a Future? / Guthanna in Éag – an mairfidh an Ghaeilge beo? says “The effort to support Irish should ideally involve trans-national alliances with the marginalised and often impoverished groups who are trying to o
