Irish Gaelic, or Gaeilge as it's properly referred to in Irish, is a Goidelic language within the Indo-European language family, and is native to Ireland. Unfortunately due to the heavy influence English has had on the island, today Gaelic is only spoken by a minority of Irish people, and it's predominantly confined to the westernmost regions of the country. However despite it's minority language standing, it does still retain tremendous cultural influence within Ireland, and even amongst Irish people who aren't native speakers.
Having been spoken in Ireland as far back as possibly 2600 BC, Irish Gaelic has a long historic legacy that is inseparable from the country's identity, and thus it can still be found intertwined in the everyday lives of most Irish people, even if indirectly. The language is also formally recognized by the Irish government as Ireland's first official language, and it has the same national constitutional status as English. In Northern Ireland Gaelic has a minority language status, and beyond the Emerald Island itself Irish Gaelic is still spoken by a very small number of Irish descendents living abroad.
According to Irish government census reports, Irish Gaelic is only spoken as a first language by roughly 3% of the country's entire population. Though precise numbers are not known, it is thought that anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 Irish people use Gaelic as a household language. Including native language users, there are thought to be about half a million fluent Gaelic speakers total in Ireland, with another two million Irish people who profess to have some knowledge of the language at varying proficiency levels.
Irish Gaelic was formally recognized as an official language by the European Union on June 13, 2005, and then made a working language on January 1, 2007 during a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers. Prior to that Irish had been granted Treaty Language status, a designation carried over from the EEC into the European Union. Despite Irish Gaelic's official language status however, not all official EU documents are required to be translated into Gaelic, making it the one exception out of all the other official EU languages.
The historic legacy of Irish Gaelic first began when the Celts arrived in Ireland around approximately 2600 BC. Some of the oldest written examples of Primitive Irish are contained in Ogham inscriptions dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries, most of which are inscribed on numerous stone monuments located in and around the Irish Sea. Although these inscriptions are mostly found in southern Ireland, there is also evidence that would suggest that the language was used in Wales, and Cornwall, spread there by Celtic settlers before the arrival of the Romans in Britain.
Beginning in the 4th and 5th centuries, Christianity began to spread throughout Ireland and Britain, and Old Irish began to find itself in glosses and other various forms of Latin manuscripts. Over the next four hundred years the language would go on to evolve into Middle Irish, which was lightly influenced by Norse due to the Viking invasions during that time. Middle Irish usage would peak around the 12th century, where by that time it could be found in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, as well as in various parts of mainland Britain.
By the closing of the 12th century, Middle Irish transformed into Classical Irish, or Early Modern Irish as it's sometimes called. Classical Irish became the primary literary language used in Ireland and Scotland until well into the 17th century. It was during this time period that the foundation for Modern Irish would be laid, mostly through grammatical tracts passed on by Irish and Scottish poets or bards. These tracts would later be published between 1916 and 1955 by Osborn Bergin within the renown academic journal of Irish language called Ériu.
From the closing of the late 17th and onward, Gaelic in Ireland evolved into what scholars refer to as Modern Irish. Up until the 19th century the language thrived as it had for centuries earlier, however with the 19th century came an increasing encroachment on Irish Gaelic by English from Britain. The British government prohibited Irish from being taught in schools during this period, greatly contributing to it's early decline. Even with the establishment of the Free Irish State in 1922, the newly formed government continued to use English even in predominately Irish speaking parts of the country, further exacerbating the situation.
In today's Ireland, Irish Gaelic has unfortunately found itself spoken by only a minority of the population, and naturally this is an ongoing tragedy given the thousands of years history the language has had on the island. Modern revival efforts have had only limited success in slowing the decline of the percentage of native speakers, and it will certainly be an uphill battle in reversing any of these sad trends. Although learning Irish Gaelic is a mandatory study in Irish public schools and most Irish people do have some level of proficiency, it isn't generally used as a first language by most people living in Ireland.
