The Irish language is on the rise after years or decline – and in the future, all Irish primary schools could be Gaelscoileanna.

As Seachtain na Gaeilge officially gets underway, Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ciara Kelly has said the younger generation is breathing new life into the Irish language and the rise in Gaelscoileanna have been a big factor in the change.

“I think we may have reached a tipping point,” she said.

“I was on the DART last weekend, I was heading into the match, and there were people speaking Irish.

Mother and daughter walking on Narin Beach, Portnoo, County Donegal Ireland. Image: Daryl Mulvihill / Alamy

“A family got on with their kids, they were speaking Irish, somebody else got on, he started speaking Irish to them – it was actually lovely to see it.

“There were two generations of people speaking Irish on the DART and you would never have seen that 10 years ago.

“I do think that something has changed. I feel different about Irish; by the way, I should point out for anyone, I don't speak Irish … honestly, I was appalling at it in school and I haven't improved, but I like it and I feel more and more a sense of regret that I don't speak our national language and I kind of wish I did.”

Nationalism

She said younger people don’t have many of the ‘hang-ups’ their parents had about the language.

“I think nationalism, going back a couple of decades, we had a slightly ambivalent view of nationalism and I think that's changed,” she said.

“I think the Gaelscoileanna have been the big game changer.”

Gaelscoileanna

Ciara said she thinks primary school education could go 100% as Gaeilge in the future.

“I suspect, if I was to make a prediction, I think ultimately we will probably see all primary schools turn into Gaelscoileanna,” she said.

“One of the capacity constraints on that up until now was we didn't have enough Irish-speaking teachers.

“Those schools will produce thousands of kids over the years who are bilingual, and we'll go on from there and some of them will become teachers.

“Like it's little by little. The language is not dead, I defy anyone to say that.

“I think it's growing and I think yes, I think you're right that it has a sense of ‘cool’ and maybe even we have a sense of pride in it now that we didn't have.”

Shane Coleman in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk

Fellow host Shane Coleman said there has been a big change in the perception of Irish in recent years.

“I think that, in the same way the League of Ireland has become trendy, I think as the world has gotten smaller and you have the globalisation, I think people are looking for things to differentiate themselves, in a way.

“Something uniquely Irish and I think speaking Irish is that.

“Now [saying that], I think we've a long, long way to go.”

He said the key thing now is to build on and take advantage of the changing perceptions of the language.