Multiculturalism and the Irish Language

"Changing demographics have lit a fire under the Irish language that is either going to invigorate it or burn it to nothingness." What's it to be?

19th Century woodcut of an Irish hedge-school

The revolutionary generation of Ireland of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries saw themselves as a cultural force as much as a political one, with the preservation and revival of the Irish language at the centre of their struggle. This is most often summarised by Patrick Pearse’s view phrase “tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.” Since independence, the Republic of Ireland dedicated a great deal of resources to the language, not always effectively; by the late 20^th Century these linguistic efforts began to seem antique, one of many relics of a disappearing past.