http://www.significancemagazine.org/det ... story.htmlQuote:
Wexford, Wicklow and Carlow are the furthest counties in Ireland from any of the Gaeltacht regions.
Quote:
It is ironic that the first place in Co. Wexford where the Norman invaders came ashore in 1169 was the last place in that county to break the continuity of Irish as the medium of daily speech.
But this bit is more interesting -
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Examination of the data for individual counties shows that in 1851 a critical percentage of the population spoke Irish. In general, if that percentage in any county was less than 28% in 1851, then that county does not contain a Gaeltacht area today.
It could be suggested that had the famine not occured, then this is the base that the revival would have to work off:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... =0&ndsp=10And as there would have been a larger critical mass, political leverage would have come into play, as between a third and a half of the island would have had significant numbers of native speakers about, thus basically ensuring its survival
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