A Gaeltacht ( GAYL-təkht, Irish: [ˈɡeːl̪ˠt̪ˠəxt̪ˠ], pl. Gaeltachtaí) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The Gaeltacht districts were first officially recognised during the 1920s in the early years of the Irish Free State, following the Gaelic revival, as part of a government policy aimed at restoring the Irish language. The Gaeltacht is threatened by serious language decline. Research published in 2015 showed that Irish is spoken on a daily basis by two-thirds or more of the population in only 21 of the 155 electoral divisions in the Gaeltacht. Daily language use by two-thirds or more of the population is regarded by some academics as a tipping point for language survival.
Etymology The use of the word Gaeltacht as geographic descriptor can be dated back to the 1890s with its use by Conradh na Gaeilge; the term had originally meant "the state of being Gaelic", in contrast to Galltacht, meaning "the state of being foreign".
Geographical area
In 1926, the official Gaeltacht was designated as a result of the report of the first Gaeltacht Commission, Coimisiún na Gaeltachta. The exact boundaries were not defined. At the time, an area was classified as Gaeltacht if 80% or more of the population was Irish-speaking; however, partial-Gaeltacht status was also accorded to many areas that did not meet the threshold, so long as they were at least 25% Irish-speaking. The Irish Free State recognised that there were predominantly Irish-speaking or semi-Irish-speaking districts in 7 of its 26 counties, covering 22 districts, but also noted that the Irish-speaking population was declining, and that education through Irish was difficult to source. In the 1950s, another Gaeltacht Commission concluded that the Gaeltacht boundaries were ill-defined. It recommended that Gaeltacht status be based solely on the strength of language use in an area. The Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1956, which created the position of Minister for the Gaeltacht, permitted the designation of areas as being Gaeltacht districts. They were defined precisely by designating district electoral divisions and townlands, and excluded many areas in which the number of Irish speakers had declined. Gaeltacht areas were recognised in six of the state's 26 counties: Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, with County Clare, included in 1926, no longer counted. Two areas of County Meath, settled with Irish speakers in the 1930s, were added in 1967. Since then, there have been minor extensions: in 1974 to include Brandon, County Kerry and in Waterford, and in 1982 in Meath and Cork. There are 26 Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas defined under the Gaeltacht Act 2012.
21st-century reports
In 2002 the third Coimisiún na Gaeltachta stated in its report that the erosion of the use of Irish in the Gaeltacht was now such that it was only a matter of time before the Gaeltacht disappeared. In some areas, Irish had already ceased to be a community language. Even in the strongest Gaeltacht areas, current patterns of bilingualism were leading to the dominance of English. Policies implemented by the State and voluntary groups were having no effect. The report recommended that a new language reinforcement strategy was required, one that had the confidence of the community itself. The Commission recommended, among many other things, that the boundaries of the official Gaeltacht should be redrawn. It also recommended a comprehensive linguistic study to assess the vitality of the Irish language in the remaining Gaeltacht districts. The study was undertaken by Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge (part of the National University of Ireland, Galway). On 1 November 2007 Staidéar Cuimsitheach Teangeolaíoch ar Úsáid na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht ("A Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the Usage of Irish in the Gaeltacht") was published. Concerning Gaeltacht boundaries, it suggested creating three linguistic zones within the Gaeltacht region:
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