Irish (Gaeilge in Irish) is a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland and constitutionally recognized as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. On 13 June 2005, EU foreign ministers unanimously decided to make Irish an official working language of the European Union. The new arrangements will come into effect on 1 January 2007.

According to stastics released by the Government of Ireland, during 2004, there are 1,570,894 speakers of Irish. Of which 339,541 use Irish everyday, 155,039 use Irish weekly, 585,300 less often, 459,657 never use it and 31,357 didn't state how often they used Irish.