The number of people studying Irish at UCC's Centre for Spoken Irish rose by 5 per cent last year, according to its annual report.

More than 2,000 people availed of the centre's academic, conversation and other Irish-language classes. This includes full-time students, adult learners, foreigners and university staff.

Cork's Ionad na Gaeilge Labhartha, whose main responsibility is the teaching of Irish, provides a range of courses for all fluency levels, including absolute beginners. During the year 47 language groups were formed, while 22 teachers were employed. Thirteen programme types were designed and offered to a learner cohort aged from 18 to 80 years. The number of seminars and public lectures held was approximately 50. "We have listened carefully to the niche demands," says Pol Ruiseal, director of the centre. There was a particularly strong demand from those who class themselves as "pure beginners, rusty or low to middle" in their fluency levels.

It is estimated that 5,000 people came into both significant or brief contact with the centre, while some 8,000 people from Ireland and around the world consulted the centre's multilingual website. Some of the statistics in the university's report include the fact that more than 130 university students who did not take Irish as an examination subject attended courses in spoken Irish, while 240 members of the public attended night classes in conversational Irish and 251 individuals attended beginners' courses.