Less than one person in 20 who claims to be able to speak Irish does so on a daily basis outside the educational system, according to new figures.
A total of 1.66 million people claim they can speak the language. Of those 485,000 (29.3 per cent) spoke Irish within the educational system on a daily basis. However, only 72,000 people, representing just 4.4 per cent of those who speak Irish, spoke it on a daily basis outside the classroom.
The latest census figures, compiled by the Central Statistics Office, reveal that the number of people speaking Irish increased by 90,000 from 2002 to 2006, but declined as a percentage of the population from 42.8 per cent to 41.9 per cent.
Of those, just over one million either never spoke the language or spoke it less than once a week.
There was a decline in the number of people who speak Irish in the Gaeltacht - down from 72.6 per cent in 2002 to 70.8 per cent in 2006.
All Gaeltacht areas, except Meath and Waterford, experienced a decline in the proportion of Irish speakers between the two censuses. Nearly a third of those who are able to speak Irish in the Gaeltacht either never spoke the language or spoke it less than once a week.
The percentage of Irish speakers was notably higher among women (45.3 per cent) than men (38.4 per cent). The ability to speak Irish was highest among school-goers aged between 10 and 14, with more than two-thirds saying they can speak the language, and lowest among those aged between 35 and 44.
The occupational groups with the highest ability to speak Irish were teachers (77.9 per cent), gardaí (74.1 per cent) and the religious (58.8 per cent). More than half of all people with a degree (54.2 per cent) can speak Irish, but that figure declines to only 17.4 per cent of people who have a primary school education only.
Conradh na Gaeilge president Dáithí MacCárthaigh said the number of people who wanted to speak Irish on a daily basis is closer to 200,000, but they are prevented from doing so because they are isolated from other Irish language speakers.
He said the key to increasing the number of daily speakers is to increase the number of people who can work through the language.
