Gaeltacht facts for kids

The regions in Ireland where most people speak Gaelic as their first language are marked in green.

this sign reads Give way (or yield). It is in County Waterford, in Ireland

Gaeltacht areas are regions where many or most of the people speak the Irish language. They are in the Republic of Ireland. The largest Gaeltacht areas are in the counties of Kerry, Cork, Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Waterford and Meath.

At the time of the 2006 census of the Republic of Ireland, the population of the Gaeltacht was 91,862, about 2.1% of the state's 4,239,848 people. The main concentrations of Irish speakers are in the western counties of Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, and Cork. But in Gaeltacht electoral districts the percentage of Irish speakers is much higher.

Images for kids

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  An Ghaeltacht 1926; areas of the island of Ireland which would have qualified for Gaeltacht status according to the first Coimisiún na Gaeltachta

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  An Ghaeltacht 1956

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  An Ghaeltacht 2007, zones within Category A

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  The percentage of respondents who said they spoke Irish daily outside the education system in the 2011 census.

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  Signs in Irish in Dungloe, County Donegal.

See also

In Spanish: Gaeltacht para niños