Census shows that more than half of Irish speakers 'don't speak it well'
Areas Increase Saw In All Six A Picture File To 2022 The Years Population Gaeltacht Eight
More than half of people who speak Irish feel that they don’t speak the language well, the census has shown.
Overall, 40% of the population—1,873,997 people—responded to questions in the census saying that they could speak Irish. While that figure is up 6% on the 2016 census, of those who said they spoke the language, more than half (55%) indicated that they didn’t do it well.
Of those aged three years and over who spoke Irish, 10% declared they spoke it very well and 32% indicated they spoke it well.
Breaking this down further shows that the education system had a key part to play—with 84% of those who never spoke Irish outside of it indicating that they did not speak it well.
Children’s level of spoken Irish generally improved once they reached the school-going age. But when they turned 18, the level of Irish spoken began to decline consistently until the age of 35.
Those aged 65 or over had the highest figure, 35%, indicating that they spoke Irish well.
Dublin City (33%) and Louth (35%) had the lowest proportion of Irish speakers, while every county in Munster had rates of over 40%, with Clare the having the second-highest proportion of Irish speakers nationally—47.1%.
The Gaeltacht of Béal Átha An Ghaorthaidh in Cork had the highest proportion of Irish speakers per population—with 200 of the 226 residents speaking Irish.
All eight Gaeltacht areas saw a population increase in the six years to 2022.
More than 57,000 non-Irish nationals told the census that they could speak Irish—with the largest responses from Poland (10,838), the United Kingdom (6,978) and Romania (3,895.)
The release also dealt with the level of education in the country, with Census 2022 showing that more people are staying longer in education, a trend that has become evident over time.
In 2022, just over one in 10 people aged 15 years and over who had completed their education had no formal or primary school education only. In 1991, 34% of those aged 15 years and over were not educated above primary school level while the equivalent percentage in 2022 was only 11%.
Just over 51,000 people aged between 20 and 49 years were educated no higher than primary level. More than 38,200 people had a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Census 2022, up 33% since 2016 and 74% from 2011.
In terms of county breakdowns, Donegal had the highest proportion (16%) of people with either no formal or primary education only, with Cork being among the lowest (8%).
More than four in five American (74%), French (74%) and German (73%) citizens in Ireland held a third-level degree.