80-564: Kilcock ( Irish : Cill Choca , meaning 'church of St Cocha') is a town and townland in the north of County Kildare , Ireland , on the border with County Meath . As of the 2022 census , it had a population of 8,674, making it the eighth largest town in County Kildare and 61st largest in Ireland. The town is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of Dublin , and is on the Royal Canal . It
160-540: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
240-488: A Chinese restaurant) at the east end of the town, to service people travelling on this road. Fresh teams of horses were available for hire at the livery stable when the coaches stopped at the post office. The building also provided some stopover accommodation. Some of the remains of the original livery courtyard could be seen adjacent to the SuperValu (formerly Centra ) supermarket and car park. These sites were protected once by
320-697: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
400-560: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
480-809: A common right. There was also a Commons at Courtown ( Bawnogue & Duncreevan ) and Laragh Commons. The markets in Kilcock were probably the largest in North Kildare. A measure of oats in those times was referred to as a "Kilcock Measure." The M4 motorway opened in 1994 and bypasses Kilcock to the south of the town. The motorway connects Dublin to the west of the country. There is a National Roads Authority (NRA) plan to create an outer orbital motorway, which would extend 80 km from Naas to Drogheda , via Kilcock. Bus Éireann has route 115 and 115A (Summerhill) running from Dublin to Mullingar passing through Kilcock. The railway arrived in Kilcock on 28 June 1847, but
560-472: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
640-541: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
720-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
800-529: A means of leisurely transport. The railway reached Enfield in 1847, when the Midland Great Western Railway opened between Broadstone Station in Dublin and Enfield railway station (opened on 28 June 1847). Upon the opening of the railway, canal boats ceased all passenger traffic between Dublin and Enfield, passengers travelling west using the train to Enfield and transferring to the canal in
880-574: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
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#1732851402688960-554: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
1040-611: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
1120-537: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
1200-609: Is a town in south County Meath , Ireland , situated between Kilcock and Kinnegad and very close to the border with County Kildare . The town is on the Dublin-Sligo railway line . It is located on the R148 regional road , formerly the N4 national primary road connecting Dublin to Connacht . In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 census, the population of Enfield grew considerably from just 566 inhabitants to 3,239 people. This increase
1280-448: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
1360-450: Is also home to the secondary school Scoil Dara. Located on Church Street, it accommodates over 900 students from Kilcock and surrounding areas including Donadea , Summerhill , Enfield , Moynalvey and Mulhussey . The town's library features mementos of the poet Teresa Brayton who was born in Kilbrook. The Old Bog Road, 4.5 km west of the town, was the subject of one of her verses. It
1440-699: Is based in the Dublin Leagues and is a member of the Dublin Ladies Basketball Board and the Dublin Men's Basketball Board. St. Coca's Athletic Club in Kilcock was established in the 1970s. A number of club members have competed nationally and internationally. Training takes place at a running track in the Bawnogue. North Kildare RFC , which is a part of North Kildare Club, is located in the Maws, Kilcock, and
1520-454: Is derived from the yellow mud that formed on the main street of the village through a combination of rain and the churning effect of the wheels of the stagecoach on the soil. Another theory is that the name arose from the yellow colour of the ragwort vegetation at the sides of the road. Enfield's phased growth is paralleled with the various phases of transport history throughout south County Meath. Going back to Ancient Times, prior to and during
1600-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
1680-415: Is due to its location on the commuter belt to Dublin. Similarly to many other dormitory towns in this vicinity, numerous housing estates have been constructed, with 2016 census numbers indicating that 80% of the town's housing stock (826 of 1,024 households) was built between 1991 and 2010. By the 2022 census, population had increased to 3,663. The village's Irish name, An Bóthar Buí (the yellow road),
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#17328514026881760-458: Is estimated to have been where the Bridge House Inn now stands. The Royal Canal also passed through Innfield, and with the arrival of the Midland Great Western Railway , the name became anglicised to Enfield. The name Innfield became Enfield towards the end of the 19th Century when a new postmaster came from Enfield, Middlesex, England and decided to use the same name for the area. The N4 ,
1840-540: Is in a civil parish of the same name. Local industries include a large Musgrave Group distribution centre, which supplies SuperValu and Centra stores across much of the country. Kilcock takes its name from the 6th century Saint Coca who founded a church beside the Rye River, a major tributary of the River Liffey . The saint is traditionally said to have been a sister of St. Kevin of Glendalough ; by occupation, she
1920-679: Is located on the Sligo to Dublin rail line with termini at Sligo Mac Diarmada and Dublin Connolly , operated by Irish Rail . As of 9 December 2018, there are 10 trains into Dublin city centre & 9 westbound trains Monday to Friday, 7 trains to Dublin & 7 trains westbound on Saturdays, and on Sundays, there are 6 trains to Dublin & 6 trains westbound. Enfield is served by Bus Éireann route 115 (Mullingar/Kilcock to Dublin) and Irish Citylink route 763 (Dublin to Galway ), in addition to less regular routes run by Kearns and Mullally's. There
2000-431: Is no old church in ruins in this parish nor is any patron saint or day remembered... the meaning of the name Cille Choc is not remembered." When the present parish church was dedicated in 1867 it was named for St. Coca, and it had cost £10,000 to build to the design of architect J.J. McCarthy. In the 8th century, there was a battle between rival kings near the church of St. Coca, then in the territory of Carbury and close to
2080-567: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
2160-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
2240-659: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
2320-619: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
2400-611: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
2480-769: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
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2560-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
2640-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
2720-563: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
2800-463: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
2880-536: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
2960-472: The Johnstown House Hotel and Spa), and from there on to Newcastle and Balyna House. When the stagecoach was used as a form of transport in Ireland, this road took a slightly different route to include the area that is now known as Enfield. The road between Dublin and Mullingar running through Enfield was built in 1735. A livery stable and courtyard existed opposite the old post office building (now
3040-486: The Office of Public Works, but have made way for redevelopment in 2014. The first postal deliveries by stagecoach, in the area, occurred around 1740, during the time of Robert Fitzgerald, 19th Earl of Kildare. In the 1790s, maps denote the site as "A New Inn", later "The New Inn" and eventually, Innfield. This derives from a mail-coach inn on the 18th century Dublin to Mullingar coach route called "The Royal Oak Inn", which
3120-597: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
3200-631: The Royal Canal makes it a common spot for canoeing . Kilcock Canoe Polo Club (KCPC) was founded in 1998, and occupies a site in the harbour at Kilcock on the Royal Canal. The club hosts training sessions in canoe polo , and the European Canoe Polo Championship was held there in 2003. Kilcock Tigers Basketball Club was established in 2000 and is based in Scoil Dara. The club has under 11 and under 18 teams for boys and girls. Kilcock Tigers
3280-669: The Westmeath border. The town has a Lidl store which opened in February 2013, and also a SuperValu store which opened in June 2016. Kilcock Business Association has in excess of 50 members. Kilcock Musical & Dramatic Society (KMDS) is an amateur musical society affiliated to the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS), in existence since 1970. The society has produced a number of productions, both musical and non-musical since 1983. For example,
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3360-683: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
3440-642: The border between Leinster and Meath. There is a gap of several hundred years until the next reference to Kilcock when, in 1303, it belonged to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham. In the 17th century, markets and fairs were held regularly in Kilcock. The tolls and duties of Kilcock Fairs were shared between the Wogans of Rathcoffey and the Eustaces of Castlemartin, Kilcullen, County Kildare. Kilcock had 70 acres (28 ha) of common land to which several inhabitants had
3520-414: The company. Even though rail travel was much quicker, the canal continued to carry traffic until the 1950s. It is only now, at the turn of the millennium, that the potential of the canal for tourism and as a natural amenity is being realised. The Office of Public Works took charge of it in 1986, and subsequent investment and significant restoration mean it has great prospects of becoming popular again as
3600-628: The early part of the first millennium A.D., the Enfield area is believed to have been situated on one of the main roads to Tara, the coronation site and seat of the High Kings of Ireland from the 3rd century until 1022. From the great heart and centre of the Irish Kingdom, five great arteries or roads radiated from Tara to the various parts of the country, namely, the Slighe (a way or path) Cualann, which ran toward
3680-468: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
3760-527: The end of the stagecoach era, as the canals were a cheaper and more efficient means of transport. The stretch from Dublin to Mullingar opened as a trade route around 1807 and the canal eventually reached the Shannon in 1817, though the company was heavily in debt. The decision by the Duke of Leinster to build a spur from the canal to his country residence at Carton House was one of the contributing factors which finally broke
3840-545: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
3920-698: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
4000-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
4080-472: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
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#17328514026884160-633: The main road to the west from Dublin, passed through Enfield and plagued it with traffic problems. In December 2005, a new stretch of the M4 motorway opened and most traffic now bypasses the town. The section of the N4 which was bypassed has been redesignated as the R148 . In 2013, St. Mary's National School was redeveloped and officially opened by Enda Kenny and Bishop Michael Smith of the Meath Diocese. The Royal Canal construction began in Dublin in 1790 and signaled
4240-563: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
4320-771: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
4400-409: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
4480-522: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
4560-448: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
4640-415: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
4720-464: The present County Wicklow, the Slighe Mór, the great Western road, which ran via Dublin to Galway, the Slighe Asail, which ran near the present Mullingar, the Slighe Dala, which ran southwest, and the Slighe Midluachra, the Northern road. During Norman times (from 1169) under the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare , a road was built from Maynooth Castle to Courtown House in Kilcock , to the Windmill on Cappagh Hill, to Cloncurry over to Johnstown House (now
4800-436: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
4880-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
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#17328514026884960-452: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
5040-441: The society presented the musical Oklahoma! in 2012. Kilcock GAA Club is situated in the townland of Branganstown and was founded on 1 May 1887. A clubhouse was opened in 2002, consisting of a bar , sports hall and changing rooms . The club has won the Kildare Senior Football Championship five times. The club caters to over 60 teams. As of 2022, there was one football club in the town, Kilcock Celtic. Kilcock's proximity to
5120-456: The station closed on 1 July 1848, as it was sited on a 1% (1 in 100) gradient which the locomotives of the day found difficult to start off from. This site was slightly east of the current Kilcock station. A replacement station opened in 1850 west of the town, where the old N4 crosses the Royal Canal and railway, but closed in 1963. The current Kilcock railway station , under Shaw Bridge, opened in 1998. As of November 2016, construction
5200-545: The town. Both the canal and the railway had stopover points in Enfield, and this contributed to the development of the area. The line was extended to Hill of Down by the end of 1847 and to Mullingar in October 1848. In 1877, a branch line from Nesbitt Junction (about 2 km (1.2 mi) west of Enfield) to Edenderry was opened. The Edenderry branch line and Enfield station closed in 1963, although there had been no regular passenger service to Edenderry since 1931. Passenger services from Enfield resumed in 1988. Enfield
5280-536: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
5360-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
5440-411: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to
5520-431: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
5600-418: Was an embroiderer of church vestments, including those for St. Colmcille . A holy well dedicated to Coca, formerly thought to be lost in the back-yards of Kilcock, is believed locally to be in the area behind the Permanent TSB building, and her feast is remembered on 6 June. However, this commemoration is a modern revival as when the Ordnance Survey of the area was being made in 1837 it was recorded that "there
5680-425: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
5760-583: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Enfield, County Meath Enfield ( Irish : An Bóthar Buí , meaning 'the yellow road'), also known as Innfield ,
5840-564: Was founded in 1928. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It
5920-465: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
6000-469: Was restored from the mid-1990s, and there are walkways through beech avenues linking several classical and gothic follies. There is also a 8-acre (32,000 m) lake with two island follies, a formal walled garden with shell-lined tower and a model gothic farmyard. Kilcock Art Gallery was established in 1978 by Breda Smyth and opened by George Campbell, RHA . Kilcock has a greenway cycle/walkway which runs from Maynooth through Kilcock for 38 km towards
6080-508: Was set to music by Madeline King O'Farrelly and recorded by artists including Josef Locke , Johnny McEvoy , Finbar Furey , Daniel O'Donnell , and Finbar Wright . There is also the old manor where Lady Catherine McCormack was born in the 1800s. Also nearby, in Calgath, County Meath , is "Bridestream" (an 18th-century house which is the headquarters to a local business), and " Larchill ", an 18th-century Ferme Ornée (ornamental farm). Larchill
6160-678: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
6240-547: Was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022
6320-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
6400-465: Was underway by the county council to pave a pedestrian and cycling path along the riverbank. Kilcock has three primary schools: Scoil Chóca Naofa, St. Joseph's BNS (which since September 2016 changed from single-sex schools to mixed schools and both schools are linked with each other), and Gaelscoil Uí Riada (an all-Irish school). The latter is located beside the Bánóg on the outskirts of the village. Kilcock
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