Donegal Daily
  • News
  • Donegal For Sam
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Politics
  • Council News
  • Features
Monday 19°CTuesday 14°C

Donegal Daily Donegal Daily

sponsor banner
sponsor banner
  • News
  • Donegal For Sam
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Politics
  • Council News
  • Features
News

Over 1 in 3 speak Irish in Donegal

written by Elaine McCallig November 25, 2017
FacebookTweetLinkedInPrint

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) have published a Census 2016 report which shows that almost 40% of people in Ireland can speak Irish.

Daily Irish speakers in Donegal account for 28.8% of all daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas, with An Bun Beag-Doirí Beaga and Letterkenny being two of the strongest Irish areas nationally.

1.76 million people aged three and over indicated that they have a firm grasp of the Irish language.

In Donegal, 37% of people (56,738) can speak Irish, down from 58,998 Irish speakers in 2011.

Over 75% of people in the following areas speak Irish; Arranmore Island, Gleanncholmcille, Fintown, Cloghan, Dungloe, Letterkenny, Magheraclogher, Annagry, Meenaclady, Dunlewey, Cross Roads, and Roguill.

On the other end of the scale, there were no Irish speakers recorded in Killygordon, Templecarn, and Pettigoe.

Source: CSO

Nationally, more females (968,777) than males (792,643) stated that they could speak Irish, with a slight decline of -0.7% in the language usage being recorded compared to 2011.

Almost one in four of those who said they could speak Irish (23.8%) indicated that they never spoke it. A further 31.7% said that they only speak our national language within the education system.

The number speaking Irish daily stood at 73,803, representing 1.7% of the population. This was a decline of 3,382 (4.4%) on 2011. Most of those whole spoke Irish daily (20.2%) lived in Dublin City and suburbs. Together, Cork, Galway and Limerick accounted for 8.2% of daily Irish speakers.

Outside of these cities, the largest absolute numbers of daily speakers were living in An Bun Beag-Doirí Beaga (771), followed by Letterkenny (525) and Swords (487).

Daily Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht areas of Galway County and Donegal made up almost three-quarters of all daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas, with 9,445 (45.9%) in Galway and 5,929 (28.8%) in Donegal.

To see the percentage of Irish speakers in your Electoral Division, you can follow this link to visit the CSO’s interactive map:
http://census.cso.ie/p10map51/

Over 1 in 3 speak Irish in Donegal was last modified: November 25th, 2017 by Elaine McCallig
FacebookTweetLinkedInPrint

Tags:
CSOGAELTACHTirishstatistics
Elaine McCallig

LEAVE A COMMENT

You may also like

Watch: Content creators show millions why Donegal...

2 hours ago

Donegal groups gain funding support to tour...

3 hours ago

Two bikers fined for dangerous speeding in...

3 hours ago

Jimmy’s winning matches – even in Albufeira

4 hours ago

Yarn in Carn project to brighten up...

5 hours ago

Water disruption in peak holiday season ‘not...

6 hours ago

Dressing to impress at the Mulroy College...

6 hours ago

Buncrana man charged with possessing “knives and...

6 hours ago

Plenty of thrills, spills and sunshine at...

7 hours ago

Buncrana chef handed disqualification for driving under...

7 hours ago
Advertisement
Advertisement

Donegal County Council

Facebook
Donegal County Council
Advertisement
Advertisement
Donegal Daily Jobs

Read More

  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Sales & Services
  • Obituaries
  • Features
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Council News

Information

  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise WIth Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions

Our Sites

Donegal Woman
Donegal Woman
Donegal Daily

© 2025 Donegal Daily. All rights reserved.
Website by owenod


Back To Top.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.