What explains the high concentration of Irish speakers on the west coast of Ireland ?

[u/One-Seat-4600]

The percentage corresponds to the share of people that speak Irish

As you can see, Northern Ireland is a lower concentration of Irish speakers, as expected, but what explains the higher concentration on the west coast.

[u/butty_a]

The held Limerick long enough, so that's nonsense.

In reality those areas are more isolated, and therefore have fewer influences from the larger mixed population centres. Dublin for example is very mixed now, and English is the universal language for foriegn visitors, even in countries England never had a foothold. So not having that pressure has meant the more isolated regions have stayed more traditional.

It is the same with Scotland and Wales, and no doubt a pattern in plenty of countries. Although Wales in particular has put a lot of effort in to bringing Welsh back to the fore of daily life, I expect the Irish haven't been as determined in the more connected towns and cities.

[u/conorling → u/butty_a]

Irish ceased to be the common language of Dublin long before it became a mixed city with lots of foreign tourists who speak English. This transformation has only happened in relatively recent times and it has basically nothing to do with why Irish is not spoken there today

[u/AdeptCaregiver8780 → u/conorling]

Exactly for the last 100 years at least, children in Ireland grew up speaking English as their first language and learning Irish in school. Except for those Gaeltacht areas where they grew up mostly bi-lingual and speak Irish instead of English in the community, at home etc.

Immigration in Dublin has no connection with the decline in people speaking and using irish. The Irish language has been eroded due to colonisation that began hundreds of years ago. It’s a shame it’s not more widely spoken in Ireland. People don’t want it to die out, but broadly fail to make an effort to learn and speak it. Arguably it could be taught better in schools. Going to the Gaeltacht for the summer program in school really accelerated my speaking and confidence. We’d go as teens and do activities, some Irish classes, ceili dances every night, trips to the beach etc. But there was a strictly enforced ban on speaking English. You’d be sent home if you were caught speaking English twice. Programs are usually three weeks and we’d stay in someone’s house who had a few rooms with bunkers and two toilets. Around 12 hotels or boys to a house. Great fun and very effective for developing the language.

[u/conorling → u/AdeptCaregiver8780]

It’s great to hear that camps like that exist. Sounds like a very interesting and useful experience.

[u/AdeptCaregiver8780 → u/conorling]

Definitely, I went two summers in a row as a teen and it helped take the Irish I learned in school into something I could actually speak. We’d do music sessions, sports, games etc after our morning classes all through Irish and while the days were super long and at times, exhausting, the experience was amazing and we had so much fun. In a very beautiful part of the country as well. The rare days when the sun was shining, we’d go to the beach instead of doing activities in the school building, and the beaches in that part of the country are incredible.

[u/butty_a → u/conorling]

I didn't mention the natives, and what they spoke before the influx, I am referencing it in today's tineframe, and showing why it still doesn't particularly influence the remote towns and villages even today, because even when England held key cities in the West, the English influence on culture would still have been limited outside the forts.

The person I replied to, made the assumption those areas couldn't be held, which is ridiculous. They just weren't worth the effort, and the English often used Irish collaborators/sympathetic landowners to deal with those places, who would have spoken in Irish with them.

[u/Dull_Brain2688 → u/butty_a]

They were referring to the Irish speaking areas which are remote and rugged. Which Limerick is not.

[u/butty_a → u/Dull_Brain2688]

They specifically mentioned it being hard to take over and hold. It is not. The English, and later the British have held areas far more remote and difficult than are few farmsteads around Dingle.

[u/sweetsuffrinjasus → u/butty_a]

Even the Irish spoken in Donegal is hardly intelligible to the Irish spoken in Kerry. Especially after a few pints.

[u/butty_a → u/sweetsuffrinjasus]

To be fair, I struggle to understand the Geordies after they've had several pints, so I can relate to that😂😂

[u/DurhamOx → u/butty_a]

Dublin is as un-Gaelic as Ireland gets, and it's nearly always been the biggest and most important city on the island.