Irish Gaelic Language
Irish (Gaeilge), also referred to as Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of
the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is spoken as a first language by a small minority of Irish people, and as a second language by a rather larger group. Irish enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland, and is an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland. It is also among the official languages. The public body Foras na Gaeilige are responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island of Ireland.

Link to the website of Foras na Gaelilige: http://www.gaeilge.ie/about-foras-na-gaeilge/?lang=e

History

Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought it with them to other regions, notably Scotland and the lsle of Man, where through earlier branching from Middle Irish it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx respectively. It has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. (Irish Language, 2016)

The start of the decline of the Irish Gaelic
The fate of the language was influenced by the increasing power of the English state in Ireland. Elizabeth an officials viewed the use of Irish unfavourably, as being a threat to all things English in Ireland. Its decline began under English rule in the 17th century. In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a dramatic decrease in the number of speakers, beginning after the Great Famine of 1845–52 (when Ireland lost 20–25% of its population either to emigration or death). Irish-speaking areas were hit especially hard. By the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population Since then, Irish speakers have been in the minority. This is now the case even in areas officially designated as the Gaeltacht. (Irish Language, 2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language

Return of the Irish Gaelic Language
With the introduction of Connradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) and other kindred organisations, in the early part of the 20th century, Irish has been revived and has made considerable progress over the past one hundred years. Hopefully it will continue to do so and that their native tongue will again attain its proper place in the lives of Co. Monaghan people in the not so distant future. (Irishidentity, 2016)

How the number of the Gaelic speaking population seem to has increased in Ireland
Around the turn of the 21st century, estimates of native speakers ranged from 20,000 to 80,000 people. In the 2006 census for the Republic, 85,000 people reported using Irish as a daily language outside of the education system, and 1.2 million reported using it at least occasionally in or out of school. In the 2011 Census, these numbers had increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, respectively. There are several thousand Irish speakers in Northern Ireland. It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene probably comprises 5 to 10 per cent of Ireland's population. (Irish Language, 2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language

Efforts have been made by the state, individuals and organisations to preserve, promote and revive the language as Gaelic is the first official language of Ireland with 25% of the population claiming to speak it. But can that true? (Irishidentity, 2016)

http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/heritage/stories/language.htm

Estimates of the experts
Language experts claim that the figure of fluent Irish speakers is closer to 3% than the aspirational 25% who tick the language box on the census, and most of these are concentrated on the western seaboard, in remote, inaccessible areas where one would not naturally find oneself.

asking directions in this mother tongue, no English in order to see how many, or
how few Irish people do speak Irish Gaelic.

His report starts as follows: Had it not been for the Celtic Revival that accompanied Ireland's fight for independence in the early 20th century, the language would have probably died out by now. Today, a quarter of the population claim they speak it regularly. (Machán Magan, 2007)

The new Gaelscoileanna
The all-Irish schools spring up throughout the country in increasing numbers every year. While old schools are being closed down or struggling to find pupils, the Gaelscoileanna are having to turn people away. The phenomenon is as popular among the affluent middle classes as it is in working-class estates, largely due to the excellence of the education: Irish-speaking secondary schools often score higher in state exams than the most elite fee-paying schools. The students come away unburdened with the sense of inferiority that every previous generation had been instilled with since the days in which the British first labelled Irish as backward.

This new generation of Irish Gaelic speakers had invented Irish words for X-Box and hip-hop, for Jackass and blog. They were fluent in Irish text-speak and had moulded the ancient pronunciations and syntax in accordance with the latest styles of Buffy-speak and
Londonstani slang. (Machán Magan, 2007)

Looking on the internet to find out how inventive these new students are nowadays with the Irish Gaelic,  I found some very nice and interesting video’s.

Very topical in 2013 and 2014 was the cup song. They even have their ‘own’ cup song.

And if you think this was rather nice and interesting, maybe I can persuade you to watch a nice video in which you can learn some Irish Gaelic in only five minutes.

I hope you enjoyed my individual research and learned something about the Irish Gaelic language.