The Green Party leader has called for Irish to be restored as the principal language spoken in Ireland and for a plan to be put in place to ensure at least 100,000 people use the language fluently every day.
Trevor Sargent
Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, Trevor Sargent said he believes "the vast majority of the population" want Irish to be a written, spoken language and available to them to learn and use.
He called for comprehensive language planning to increase the numbers who use Irish every day.
"Linguists generally agree that it takes at least 100,000 speakers to sustain a vocabulary. The population of Irish speaking areas 'na Gaeltachtaí' is about 50,000. This fact puts it up to all of us, the Government, each parent, each businessperson, every signwriter, every radio and TV station and newspaper to use our language or lose it," he said.
"A comprehensive interconnected plan is needed to ensure that at least 100,000 people are fluently using Irish every day. In many ways, the Irish language is better placed than it was 100 years ago to provide an inspiration and a service for the Irish people.
"We have media, both broadcast and written available in Irish. There is an education system from pre-school to post-graduate university level 'as Gaeilge' and there is computer software and websites for Irish and through Irish."
Mr Sargent said State policy was, and still is, largely to leave the revival of Irish to school children.
"For the adult population that narrow policy has certainly sidelined the language for many. To this day those of us who teach Irish to adults at evening classes still have no easily accessed training course."
Mr Sargent said the language was useful for the tourism industry and stood out as an "attractive and distinct part of Irish culture".