Interest in learning the Irish language is highest among adults aged under 35 and women, a new survey shows.
The Public Attitudes Towards the Irish language and the Gaeltacht survey, conducted by Amárach Research, polled a national sample of 1,000 adults and a “booster sample” of 79 people living in Gaeltacht areas.
More women recorded a positive attitude towards the language than men, with 73 per cent stating a desire to enhance their language skills compared with 63 per cent of men.
The survey also found greater interest in the language among younger demographic with 74 per cent in the 25-34 age group stating a desire to learn or improve their Irish, and 71 per cent in the 18-24 age group.
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This compares with 60 per cent in the 55-65 age group and 62 per cent in the 65-plus age group.
The survey was conducted on behalf of Gaeltacht agency Údarás na Gaeltachta and third-level Irish language institution Gaelchultúr. It was conducted in December via an online survey and has a stated margin of error of 3.1 per cent.
Overall, 68 per cent of adults in the national sample and 74 per cent of adults in the Gaeltacht sample said they wanted to improve their Irish language skills.
Irish-medium education enjoys widespread public support, and a large majority also favour seeing a greater role for Irish in business and public organisations, the results show.
Asked if they would send their children to Irish-medium education such as naíonraí or Gaelscoileanna if they were available in their area, 49 per cent of the national sample said they would, while 66 per cent of the Gaeltacht sample said they would.
While not directly comparable due to differences in methodology, this percentage is a good deal higher than a previous piece of research by the Economic and Social Research Institute in 2015 that showed that 23 per cent would opt for an Irish-medium school were it to be made available in their locality.
Figures from the Department of Education indicate that 8 per cent of primary school students in the 26 counties attend Irish-medium schools and just 3.8 per cent of post-primary school students attend Irish-medium schools.
Respondents under the age of 25 (93 per cent) showed the strongest agreement that musical artists and other people in the public eye using Irish have a positive impact on how people view the language.
Younger age groups were also more likely to use Irish in at least one setting with 52 per cent saying they used Irish in more than one setting.
Respondents were asked if they use Irish in any of seven listed settings ranging from at home (25 per cent), with friends (21 per cent) to the workplace (9 per cent) or when dealing with public services (5 per cent). However, the question did not specify the frequency with which respondents used Irish in the given settings.
Asked if they would like to see more Irish used by businesses and public organisations in areas such as marketing, signage and communications, 63 per cent of the national sample said they would like to see more Irish used, and 74 per cent of Gaeltacht respondents also agreed.
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Support for greater use of Irish in these settings was greatest among the younger age cohort and among women.
This compares with 55 per cent of those in the 55-plus age cohort.
Pollsters also asked how important the Gaeltacht is to the future of the Irish language – 80 per cent of the national sample said it was “very important” while 70 per cent of Gaeltacht respondents said it was “very important”.
Respondents were asked what they felt are most important factors are in supporting a sustainable Gaeltacht. Local employment opportunities (53 per cent) and affordable housing (48 per cent) were the most cited, an indication perhaps of the housing crisis in Gaeltacht areas, while Irish-medium education was cited by 32 per cent and access to public services through Irish was cited by 22 per cent.
While a “booster sample” of 79 people was added to bring the total number of Gaeltacht respondents to 109 people, the sample size is small. No information was divulged about how representative the sample was of Gaeltacht communities, which exist in counties Galway, Kerry, Cork, Donegal, Meath and Waterford.
For more details and analysis, see Scéal.
