This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022. More thematic publications will be published as outlined in the Census 2022 Publication Schedule.
The total number of people aged three and over who could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997. This represents 40% of the population aged three years and over who completed the question on Irish language, which is unchanged from 2016.
There were 112,577 more people who could speak Irish compared with 2016, an increase of 6%.
There were 6,685 Irish language census forms completed by households in 2022.
More females than males declared they were able to speak Irish, with 1,030,171 female speakers (55%) compared with 843,826 males (45%), similar to what was seen in previous censuses.
Over two-thirds of all those aged between 6 and 19 indicated that they could speak Irish (67%).
Around 47% of people aged 20 to 24 years could speak Irish, but this dropped to 35% among 25 to 29-year-olds and only 30% of 30 to 34-year-olds.
Over one-third of those aged 65 years and older could speak Irish (35%).
The highest proportions of Irish speakers among the population aged three years and over were recorded in Galway County (50%) and Clare (47%).
Dublin City (33%) and Louth (35%) had the lowest proportion of Irish speakers.
Of the 1,873,997 people who declared they can speak Irish, almost 473,000 stated they never spoke it. This was an increase of almost 55,000 people compared with 2016 (+13%).
A further 553,965 indicated they only spoke Irish within the education system, a 1% decline compared with 2016 (-4,643 people).
Of the remaining group, 115,065 spoke weekly (+3%), 614,727 people indicated they spoke Irish less often than weekly (+5%), while just 71,968 people spoke Irish daily (-2%, -1,835).
In 2022, the towns with the highest proportion of Irish speakers among the population aged three years and over were Béal Átha An Ghaorthaidh (89%), Mín Lárach and Bun Na Leaca (88% in each).
An Bun Beag and An Cheathrú Rua at 69% each had the highest proportions of daily Irish speakers.
Over 70 towns in Ireland had no daily Irish speakers.
| Town | Daily Irish speakers (%) |
|---|---|
| An Bun Beag | 69 |
| An Cheathrú Rua | 69 |
| Mín Lárach | 68 |
| Doirí Beaga | 66 |
| Rann Na Feirste | 61 |
| Bun Na Leaca | 60 |
| Cill Rónáin | 58 |
| Gort An Choirce | 56 |
| An Spidéal | 48 |
| Loch An Iúir | 44 |
Dunquin (75%), Inishmore (74%) and Kilquane (73%) were the Electoral Divisions with the largest proportion of daily Irish speakers aged three years and over.
The Irish language question was expanded in Census 2022 and asked people who spoke Irish how well they spoke the language.
Of those aged three years and over who spoke Irish, 10% declared they spoke it very well and 32% indicated they spoke it well.
Over half of the people who could speak Irish indicated they didn’t speak it well (55%).
In general, among those aged three years and over who spoke Irish, people who spoke the language more frequently tended to speak it more fluently.
Some 90% of people who spoke Irish daily outside the education declared that they spoke it very well or well.
Among those who spoke the language less often than weekly outside education, 62% said they didn’t speak it well.
Some 84% of those who never spoke Irish outside the education system indicated that they did not speak it well.
Children’s level of spoken Irish generally improved once they reached the school-going age.
At around 18 years, the level of Irish spoken began to decline consistently until the age of 35.
The proportion of those who declared they did not speak Irish well decreased between the ages of 13 and 18 years.
However, from the age of 19, the percentage of those not speaking Irish well increased.
Among those aged 65 years and over who spoke Irish, 34% spoke it either very well or well.
Of those aged 15 years and over with a third level education, 27% spoke Irish well and 10% spoke it very well.
Among people aged 15 years and over who were educated no higher than primary level, only 17% spoke Irish well while 11% spoke it very well.
People whose highest level of education was secondary were the largest group among those who spoke Irish but didn't speak it well (69%).
| Speaks Irish - Very well | Speaks Irish - Well | Speaks Irish - Not well | Not stated | |
| No formal/Primary | 11 | 17 | 66 | 6 |
| Secondary | 5 | 21 | 69 | 5 |
| Third level | 10 | 27 | 62 | 2 |
| Not stated | 13 | 28 | 49 | 11 |
There were 106,220 people living in the Gaeltacht areas in Census 2022.
This was 6,603 (7%) more people compared with 2016.
However, it was only a 5% increase compared with 2011. This is because there was a slight decline in the Gaeltacht population between 2011 and 2016.
All eight Gaeltacht areas saw a population increase in the six years to 2022.
The largest percentage increase was in the Waterford Gaeltacht (+14% or 247 people).
The largest increase in the number of people was in the Galway County Gaeltacht with an additional 2,937 people compared with 2016.
Mayo’s Gaeltacht population had the slowest population increase (+1% or 129 people).
| Gaeltacht Areas | 2011 | 2016 | 2022 | Percentage change 2016 to 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meath Gaeltacht Area | 1771 | 1857 | 2093 | 12.7086698976844 |
| Cork Gaeltacht Area | 3895 | 3932 | 4110 | 4.52695829094608 |
| Kerry Gaeltacht Area | 8729 | 8756 | 9036 | 3.19780721790772 |
| Waterford Gaeltacht Area | 1784 | 1816 | 2063 | 13.6013215859031 |
| Galway City Gaeltacht Area | 15299 | 15774 | 17496 | 10.9166983643971 |
| Galway County Gaeltacht Area | 33608 | 33750 | 36687 | 8.70222222222222 |
| Mayo Gaeltacht Area | 10886 | 10386 | 10515 | 1.2420566146736 |
| Donegal Gaeltacht Area | 24744 | 23346 | 24220 | 3.74368200119935 |
There were 102,973 people aged three years and over in the Gaeltacht areas; 65,156 of these indicated that they could speak Irish.
This was an increase of 1,492 Irish speakers on the 2016 figure (+2%).
However, the proportion who could speak Irish in the Gaeltacht areas fell from 69% in 2011 to 66% in 2022.
The Mayo (-3%) and Donegal (-2%) Gaeltacht areas saw the largest falls in the number of people who could speak Irish in the six years to 2022.
The Meath (+11%, 117 people) and Waterford (+15%, 187 people) Gaeltacht areas saw the largest increases in the number of Irish speakers since 2016.
| Gaeltacht Areas | 2011 | 2016 | 2022 | Percentage change 2016 to 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meath Gaeltacht Area | 1054 | 1062 | 1179 | 11.0169491525424 |
| Cork Gaeltacht Area | 2951 | 2872 | 2942 | 2.43732590529248 |
| Kerry Gaeltacht Area | 6185 | 5874 | 6068 | 3.30268981954375 |
| Waterford Gaeltacht Area | 1271 | 1286 | 1473 | 14.5412130637636 |
| Galway City Gaeltacht Area | 7123 | 7020 | 7751 | 10.4131054131054 |
| Galway County Gaeltacht Area | 23855 | 23550 | 24238 | 2.92144373673036 |
| Mayo Gaeltacht Area | 6667 | 6121 | 5956 | -2.69563796765234 |
| Donegal Gaeltacht Area | 17132 | 15879 | 15549 | -2.07821651237483 |
Among the over 65,000 Irish speakers aged three years and over in the Gaeltacht areas, 20,261 or 31% spoke the language daily. This was a fall of 2% compared with 2016 (-325 people).
A further 6,435 people spoke Irish on a weekly basis (+2% compared with 2016).
The remaining 59% of Irish speakers living in the Gaeltacht spoke Irish less often than weekly, never, within the education system only, or did not state how often they spoke the language (38,460 people).
The Galway County Gaeltacht had the largest proportion of daily Irish speakers among all Gaeltacht areas at 39% (40% in 2016).
The Galway City Gaeltacht had the lowest percentage of daily speakers at 8% of those who could speak Irish.
Of those Irish speakers aged three years and over in the Gaeltacht areas, 29% indicated that they spoke Irish well while 41% spoke it very well. Another 28% of Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht said they didn’t speak the language well.
In the Mayo Gaeltacht, 38% spoke Irish well and 21% indicated they spoke it very well. However, almost two-fifths declared they didn’t speak the language well.
Half of Irish speakers in the Galway County Gaeltacht declared they spoke Irish very well, whereas almost one-quarter of Irish speakers declared that they spoke the language well.
The highest proportion of Irish speakers who said they didn’t speak the language well (47%) was in the Galway City Gaeltacht. Only 17% in this area indicated they spoke Irish very well.
Over 45% of Irish citizens aged three years and over indicated that they could speak Irish.
Among non-Irish citizens aged three years and over (including no citizenship and not stated), almost 57,000 said they could speak Irish.
Just 3% of these spoke Irish daily (1,675).
Among those who had a country of citizenship other than Ireland and who could speak Irish, 19% identified as Polish and 12% as UK citizens.
Some 15% of all Australian citizens aged three years and over indicated that they could speak Irish and so did 13% of Polish and Latvian citizens.
| Irish speakers (%) | |
| Croatia | 9 |
| France | 6 |
| Germany | 8 |
| Italy | 6 |
| Latvia | 13 |
| Lithuania | 12 |
| Poland | 13 |
| Romania | 10 |
| Spain | 5 |
| Ukraine | 2 |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) | 8 |
| Other EU27 (2020) | 8 |
| Rest of Europe(1) | 8 |
| Africa | 10 |
| China | 11 |
| India | 6 |
| Other Asia(1) | 7 |
| Australia | 15 |
| United States of America (the) | 10 |
| Brazil | 3 |
| Other America(1) | 4 |
| Other countries | 11 |
| Multiple/Dual citizenship | 8 |
| All countries excluding Ireland | 9 |
Under the Gaeltacht Act 2012, the Gaeltacht was redefined into 26 Limistéar Pleanála Teanga (LPTs), or Language Planning Areas.
Among these, Ceantar na nOileán recorded the largest proportion of Irish speakers (95%) in 2022.
Toraigh recorded the largest proportion of daily Irish speakers in 2022 at 83% of all people aged three years and over who could speak Irish (93 persons).
| Irish speakers (%) | |
| Ceantar na nOileán | 95 |
| Toraigh | 94 |
| An Cheathrú Rua | 90 |
| Árainn Mhór | 86 |
| Oileáin Árann | 85 |
| Conamara Láir | 85 |
| Gaoth Dobhair, Rann na Feirste, Anagaire agus Loch an Iúir | 84 |
| Cois Fharraige | 82 |
| Cloich Chionnaola, Gort an Choirce, An Fál Carrach agus Machaire Rabhartaigh | 77 |
| Múscraí | 77 |
| Na Déise | 76 |
| Ciarraí Thiar | 74 |
| Dún na nGall Theas | 72 |
| An Ghaeltacht Láir | 71 |
| Cléire | 68 |
| Maigh Eo Thiar | 66 |
| Dúiche Sheoigheach agus Tuar Mhic Éadaigh | 65 |
| Maigh Cuilinn | 63 |
| Ciarraí Theas | 63 |
| Tuaisceart Dhún na nGall | 61 |
| Ráth Chairn agus Baile Ghib | 60 |
| Bearna agus Cnoc na Cathrach | 58 |
| Maigh Eo Thuaidh | 57 |
| An tEachréidh | 54 |
| Na Rosa | 49 |
| Oirthear Chathair na Gaillimhe | 44 |
In 2022, there were 773,688 Irish speakers who were at work and they had a range of occupations. These included:
Teaching and educational professionals (11% of Irish speakers).
Administrative occupations (9%).
Business, media and public service professionals (9%).
Health professionals, Corporate managers and directors, and Business and public service associate professionals (7% in each).
The main occupational groups with daily Irish speakers who were at work in 2022 were:
Teaching and educational professionals (9% of workers were daily Irish speakers).
Culture, media and sports occupations (7%).
Elementary trades and related occupations (5%).
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