Ireland needs 250,000 Gaelic speakers by 2028 to save the future of the language, Gaeltacht Minister Éamon Ó Cuív said today.
Speaking during a visit to the United States, Mr Ó Cuív called for more leadership to ensure the native tongue thrives in a globalised world.
The Government is preparing a 20-year strategy for the Irish language, due to be unveiled before the end of the year.
Mr Ó Cuív today announced the Fulbright Irish Language Program in the City University of New York (CUNY) in the Bronx. Lehman College in CUNY teaches Irish to students from dozens of diverse ethnic backgrounds.
The minister told CUNY students and academics: “I personally believe that if, in 20 years time, we have 250,000 daily speakers of Irish, the tide will have definitively turned. “Then we can reasonably expect to have an Irish-speaking community of sufficient strength to ensure further growth for the language.”
He added: “I can see no reason other than lack of courage and leadership now why Irish will not remain alive as a spoken, community language in the new globalised world we have created.”
A grant of €660,000 from the Gaeltacht Affairs Department will fund Irish language teaching assistants and scholars in US colleges and universities over the next three years.
Mr Ó Cuív said Ireland’s Celtic Tiger boom triggered an international renaissance of Irish culture.