This article is from page 26 of the 2007-10-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 26 JPG
THE percentage of people speaking Irish in Shannon has dropped, ac- cording to Census figures.
Figures revealed during the Census of Population, which was undertaken last year, reveal that 41.8 per cent of people in Shannon can speak Irish.
This compares with 44.5 per cent, When the previous Census figures which were compiled in 2002. Na- tionally, 41.9 per cent of people can speak Irish.
The figure in Shannon is lower than that in Ennis (47.5 per cent) and Kil- rush (42.9 per cent). Overall, 48.8 per cent of the population of Clare can speak Irish.
The figures show that 3,580 people
in Shannon, over the age of three, have some knowledge of Irish, 1,684 of them were male, with the remain- ing 1,896 female.
There were 4,991 non-Irish speak- ers in Shannon, while 228 did not state if they spoke Irish.
Four years earlier, 3,539 people spoke Irish, while 4,418 declared them as non-Irish speakers.
Residents filling out Census forms were also asked to state whether they were frequent Irish speakers. 1,033 people said they spoke Irish daily, within the education system, while 47 said they also spoke it outside the education system. For those who were not in the education system, 65 said they spoke our native tongue Neto) AYA
182 said they spoke it weekly, while 1,242 said they spoke Irish less often than weekly.
One national statistic was also re- flected in Shannon, in that more fe- males than males used Irish. 44 per cent of females in Shannon spoke Irish, while 38.9 per cent of males were able to speak cupla focal.
In 2002, 47.3 per cent of females and 41.8 per cent of males, had the ability to speak Irish.
Overall, 1.6 million people in Ire- land said they could speak Irish, in mau eToys
The chairman of Club na Sionna, Sean O Nuanain said he was happy to hear that so many people can speak Irish.
“I would be delighted to hear that
SO many people can speak Irish. The figures are encouraging,’ he said.
He said the Irish is widely used among a number of groups in Shan- non, particularly Duchas na Sionna and its sub-groups, whose work is bilingual.
These include Conradh na Gaeilge, Glor na Gael, Shannon Wetlands Group and wildlife and historical groups.
“We work together in Duchas na Sionna to further the aims of the dif- ferent groupings,” he said.
One seanfhocal to be remembered in the use of Irish, he said, is “Fao1 Scath a Cheile a Mhaireann na Dao- ine (We live in the shadow of each Other/We get strength from each 0) ds 0