Forcing students to learn Irish has failed, says Hayes

[Sailor]

After English what is the second most spoken, on a daily basis, language in Ireland today?

Polish?

[diy01]

In terms of habitual speakers, probably Polish. There are more people with a knowledge of Irish in Ireland than Polish because of the schools, but in terms of daily speakers, fluent speakers, I'd guess Polish. Others widely spoken would be Mandarin Chinese and Hausa. Irish is probably fourth or fifth overall.

Remember, it's easy to get the impression that Romanian or Slovak are widely spoken, but people from these countries are generally clustered in a handful of urban areas. That's not the case with Irish and it'd be wrong to assume that Irish is way down the list. Like I say, it's probably fourth or fifth overall. Amongst those born in Ireland, it's second.

[TheTipperaryMan]

Irish is probably fourth or fifth overall.

That's a bit over optimistic to say the least.

[FutureTaoiseach]

Just because something is the case doesn't mean it should be.

[diy01]

It's overly optimistic to say that Irish is in the top five most spoken languages in Ireland? How so?

List five languages other than Irish which have over 75,000 daily speakers in the country. Provide sources.

[USER1234]

Just because something is the case doesn't mean it should be.

Maybe not, but we live in reality where thing are the way they are, not the land of wishes!!!

[diy01]

Maybe not, but we live in reality where thing are the way they are, not the land of wishes!!!

Good thing the Hiberno-English didn't feel that way in the 16th century when the English language was on the verge of collapse outside of the Pale. Otherwise you might be speaking Irish! And wouldn't that be terrible.

[YoungLiberal]

And yet the most fluent Irish speaker in the Dail is Enda Kenny.

You actually believe that? Although, as had been said before, it's not a competition.

[Cato]

Just because something is the case doesn't mean it should be.

Indeed not, but seeing as how Polish is in fact the second language of Ireland should we not make an effort to teach it in schools? The Polish community seems to be here to stay.

[USER1234]

Good thing the Hiberno-English didn't feel that way in the 16th century when the English language was on the verge of collapse outside of the Pale. Otherwise you might be speaking Irish! And wouldn't that be terrible.

Thanks for the smartass reply diy01!!