Quote Originally Posted by John_Carrick View Post
In the 2011 Census for the Republic of Ireland, about 83,000 people said they spoke Irish on a daily basis (excluding in school), but about 1.7 million claimed to be able to speak Irish.
Because they have to learn it in school, the number of people who can speak Irish is very high, almost half the population, whereas as it is only a first language in the Gaeltacht (which mostly corresponds to Connaught, in the West, the least populated part of the country) and for some people (a minority, obviously) in Dublin city.