Honestly, I do not think that Irish is going to die out.

Here's why:

- The situation of other languages (take Cornish or Manx, to name two "Celtic" examples, or even Scots) is arguably worse,

- Irish - unlike for example Welsh - is an official language of the European Union,

- there are many efforts to keep Irish alive, like television, books, radio, popular songs and the like where you can listen to or read Irish (I love the Irish version of "Wake me up" - much better than the original),

- from what I understand, several native speakers make an effort to teach their kids Irish, and

- Irish is quite popular among learners outside of Ireland. I know the story of a university in Germany where they do not teach Celtic studies, but someone negotiated to offer an Irish course for beginners. The administration of the university thought no one would come. No less than fourty people showed up.

However, I would be inclined to agree that it will be tough for non-native speakers to speak fluent and correct Irish at a high level. Personally, I hardly ever have an opportunity to practice the little Irish that I "have", although there are lots of Irish people living where I live (which is outside of Ireland).

I guess it will be up to those already speaking Irish - just keep it from dying :)

I am not trying to be rude or anything but until not so long ago I thought Irish people use English only. It's because I watched a video about an Irish man on YouTube and he said his native language is English. So after reading your post I read a short book about Ireland and also looked up on the internet and found out that Irish have Gaeilge but Irish speakers decreased very sharply during the Enlish ruling and after the great famine. But isn't it your national language now? Why is Irish language still dying out? I mean If you are an Irish don't you learn Irish language at school? Isn't government doing anything to preserve the language ? If I were an Irish and my own language was dying out I would have been very very sad. I personally like Ireland very much because it seems like the country has similar history with mine. Korea got ruled by Japan once and we were forced to use Japanese only at that time so after the independent, many young Korean people had to learn Korean again. It is so wonderful how you love your own language and concerned about its future. Maybe try to do something with people who share the same concern. 

If you feel like you would like to do something about it, you might consider the fact that there are many people on italkie studying Irish, but there's only one person offering to teach it... at present.

dia dhibh,

Ta me as bhreatain Bheag agus ba maith liom Gaeilge a thuiscint.

We have the same problem with Welsh, but it is growing slowly, due to the persistence of the Welsh language Board and the fact that many adults who don't speak Welsh are sending their children to Welsh schools. I am sure that a similar thing will happen in Ireland, it just takes a little time.  I am sorry that most ofthis blog is in Bearla, but I am working on that and along with welsh and Cornish, i hope to add Gaeilge too.

I am not a Nationalist so to speak, but I love langauges, and it would be a travesty to let the Celtic langauges die.

Gaeilge go deo! 

I am worried about losing Irish too, yet I'm actually English so trying to learn Irish as we speak. Unfortuantely I can't afford lessons so am just learning bits and bobs where I can. Hoping to move other there one day.

One experience that shocked me was when I was last over there, I went to a Gaeltract so I could listen to the language and maybe even practice! I ordered the drinks in a café in Irish and the waitress just stared at me before finally saying 'I'm sorry, I don't speak Irish". Really?!