Cavan has lowest rate of daily Irish speakers

Cavan has one of the lowest rates of daily Irish speakers in the country, analysis of Census 2022 has revealed.

The county has 479 daily Irish speakers, or 6.5% of the total population; while neighbouring County Monaghan has one of the best rates at 724 people.

Of those in the Cavan, 32.5% said they were able to speak Irish, which is behind the national average of 36.4%. Nationally 1,873,997 people stated they were able to speak Irish, with 71,968 speaking the language daily.

Stiofán Ó Connachtaigh, the Irish Language Development Officer at Muiceachán le Gaeilge, spoke to The Anglo-Celt about the findings. He calling for a range of measures to improve fluency in the Breffni county.

“The statistics show the story of two counties next door to each other that have vastly different results,” he said.

“Monaghan is consistently up at the top of the table in every metric when it comes to the Irish language and Cavan is consistently at the bottom.”

Stiofán said a “double pronged” approach is necessary to increase Cavan’s Irish speaking community.

“It starts from the bottom in terms of community activism,” he said.

“From the top down, you need the support of the county council, you need the support of the government.”

There is currently a vacancy of an Irish Language Officer within Cavan County Council.

“That is one thing that needs to be addressed,” Stiofán urged.

“The government has consistently failed to adequately support the Irish language,” he said.

Some €8.5 million has been announced by the government in Budget 2023 for Irish language and Gaeltacht organisations and projects, under 0.08% of total government spending in 2023.

“Conradh na Gaeilge want that spending to be ratcheted up.”

Stíofan found the difference between spending in the arts or heritage sector and the Irish language sector “mind boggling”.

“What is the point of a nation of its own without a language of its own?” he asked.

He encouraged the people of Cavan to use the Irish language more often and “break through the lack of confidence and embarrassment” and speak the language.

“In your daily life, why not speak a cúpla focal at home?”

“There is a high number of people in Cavan who confessed they have good Irish, however a very small number said they have very good Irish.

“Our job now as Irish language activists is to bridge that gap,” he said.

Cavan’s population, meanwhile, has grown by seven per cent to just over 81,704, according to the latest Census.

The Census in Ireland takes place every five years and is a detailed count of every person living in Ireland on a certain date. The last census took place on April 3, 2022. The number of people present on this night, representing Ireland’s population, was 5,149,139. This is the first time the figure surpassed five million since 1851.

The population in County Cavan is nearly balanced in proportion of males and females, with 101 males for every 100 females. Overall Ireland’s population has 98 males for every 100 females. The average age of the people in Cavan is 38.5 years, compared to the national average of 38.8 years. The number of young people in Cavan aged 15 and under is 17,752, 34% of whom are in childcare.

Employment in the county has increased since 2016, with 4,841 additional people on the workforce. Of this number 22% of people work at home at least one day in the week. Nationally, the number of people at work has increased by 16%, while those working from home is at 32%.

In tenure, 69% of people in the county owned their homes; while 24% of people were renting. On a national scale, two in three households own their home with 28% renting. Key findings from the survey revealed that 80% of the national population reported they either never smoked or had given up smoking, with 13% smoking daily or occasionally. Smoking was more prevalent among males than females.

The number of people who identified Roman Catholicism as their religion fell from 79% in 2016 to 69% in 2022.