Language barriers - Irish at the expense of education?

IT HAS been suggested that there are about 200 languages spoken in Ireland today.

Even if the figure were half that you would have to wonder if Irish remains in the, say, top three spoken languages in the country.

This despite generations of Irish people being force-fed the language at school and government programmes designed to rejuvenate the language. Most of these initiatives have failed as each passing census records that fewer and fewer people describe themselves as competent Irish speakers.