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Concept
Gaeltacht
Summary
Gaeltacht (ˈɡeɪltəxt , ˈɡeːl̪ɣt̪ɣəxt̪ɣ, Gaeltachtaí) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.
The Gaeltacht districts were first officially recognised during the 1920s in the early years of the Irish Free State, following the Gaelic revival, as part of a government policy aimed at restoring the Irish language.
The Gaeltacht is threatened by serious language decline. Research published in 2015 showed that Irish is spoken on a daily basis by two-thirds or more of the population in only 21 of the 155 electoral divisions in the Gaeltacht. Daily language use by two-thirds or more of the population is regarded by some academics as a tipping point for language survival.
In 1926, the official Gaeltacht was designated as a result of the report of the first Gaeltacht Commission Coimisiún na Gaeltachta. The exact boundaries were not defined. At the time, an area was classified as Gaeltacht if 25% or more of the population was Irish-speaking; however, Gaeltacht status was also accorded to many areas that did not meet the 25% threshold. The Irish Free State recognised that there were predominantly Irish-speaking or semi-Irish-speaking districts in 15 of its 26 counties.
In the 1950s, another Gaeltacht Commission concluded that the Gaeltacht boundaries were ill-defined. It recommended that Gaeltacht status be based solely on the strength of language use in an area.
In 1956, under the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1956, the position of Minister for the Gaeltacht (now the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media) was created. The same legislation allowed the government to designate areas as being Gaeltacht districts. They were initially defined precisely and excluded many areas in which the number of Irish speakers had declined. Gaeltacht areas were recognised in seven of the state's 26 counties (nominally Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Kerry, and Waterford).
Official source
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