Attitudes towards the Irish Language on the Island of Ireland

Abstract

Irish is spoken by a minority of the population in both jurisdictions, but there are significant differences in the size of this minority. Recent census figures (2011) on both sides of the border show that in the Republic, 41 per cent of the population reported being able to speak Irish (CSO, 2012), the corresponding figure for northern Ireland was 11 per cent. This study is designed to explore the factors affecting attitudes towards, and use of, the Irish language among the adult population on the island of Ireland. In doing so, it draws, first and foremost, on data from the Irish Language Survey 2013, with comparisons made to the Irish Language Survey 2001 on which it was based.1 Further insights are provided by a comparison of the results regarding the profile of Irish speakers with that from Census data. Given that attitudes are often shaped by schooling, the study also draws on secondary analysis of the Growing Up in Ireland study (nine-year-old cohort) on primary school pupils and the Irish Post-Primary Longitudinal Study (PPLS), exploring students' attitudes to Irish in the Republic of Ireland