A study indicating a decline in the number of people speaking Irish regularly in the Gaeltacht regions has major long-term implications for the revival of the language, according to the chairman of Udaras na Gaeltachta, Prof Gearoid O'Tuathaigh.
Despite evidence that Gaeltachtai were being eroded, successive governments have failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, he said.
The latest analysis offering a breakdown of the 1996 census was carried out this month by a maths lecturer at the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology, Mr Donncha O hEallaithe, and commissioned by the recently formed Irish-language magazine, Cuisle. The results are in the current issue. Mr O hEallaithe's findings show that 71,000 adults, under 3 per cent of the State's population, said they spoke Irish on a daily basis. Of these, almost 21,000, or 36.5 per cent, live in Gaeltacht regions.
This means most people claiming to speak Irish daily live outside the Gaeltacht. For pre-school children living in the Gaeltacht the census indicated that 861 children, equal to 34 per cent of the three-to-four age group, spoke Irish daily.
The results of the 1996 census, published just before Christmas, gave a more detailed picture of the use of Irish than previous surveys, because it marked the first time people were asked how frequently they used the language, Mr O'hEallaithe
explained. On the basis of previous censuses, there were claims that over one million spoke Irish. That was because these surveys included schoolchildren whose only exposure to Irish was in the classroom.
"I've taken them out of the picture, and that gives a different story," Mr O'hEallaithe said, adding that the state of Irish in Gaeltacht regions raised questions about strategies used by Government and non-government bodies to promote Irish in these areas.
Prof O'Tuathaith called for a cohesive Government approach to tackle the decline. "Providing employment alone is not enough. Some initiatives such as Teilifis na Gaeilge have been positive, but these are individual initiatives. "A co-ordinated strategy involving physical planning and human resource development is needed. Even then nobody can be sure of the outcome."
The Waterford Gaeltacht of Ring showed an increase in the number of pre-school children speaking Irish on a daily basis, which indicated a local resolve and also reflected the creation of employment opportunities allowing Irish speakers to move to the area, said Prof O'Tuathaith, but he cautioned that in a small area such as Ring, a small number of people could make a substantial statistical difference to the figures speaking Irish.
Outside Gaeltacht areas, the census results were better, with a reported increase in the number of pre-school children speaking Irish daily, 4.5 per cent as opposed to 3 per cent of adults.
Next month's Cuisle magazine will give a more comprehensive breakdown on the use of Irish within Gaeltacht regions. "I'm analysing the figures on an almost parish-by-parish basis so that we'll have a full picture," Mr O hEallaithe said.