Nowadays there about 73,000 daily speakers in Ireland and
4,000 in Northern Ireland.
 When Britain ruled over Ireland in the 16th century, the
Irish language came close to dying out. Irish people were forced to exclusively
speak English.

 Most Irish people still feel very strongly about keeping the
language alive. The Foras na Geilge is an organization that is in charge of
promoting the Irish language.
 When looking at this map of Ireland, showing the division in
daily Irish speakers, you can see in the north that few people still speak
Irish. This can be traced back to the 16th century, where Scottish-Protestant
immigrants lived.

 

At first the people in Dublin were confused and angry, because many had died and food supplies were cut off. But after the British shot the leaders, some of the Irish people began to follow and support them in sympathy for their cause. The Easter Rising was a major reason for the creation of the Irish Republic and the Irish War of Independence.

Aftermath

 In the 1918 general election to the parliament of the United Kingdom, the Sinn Fein political party (whose goal was to establish a republic) won a majority of the Irish seats. The Sinn Fein members then refused to sit in the UK Parliament, and in January 1919 met in Dublin to convene a single chamber parliament and declare Ireland’s independence. The Irish Republican Army then launched a guerrilla war against the British government and its forces in Ireland. Following a July 1921 cease-fire, the two sides signed a treaty in December that called for the establishment of the Irish Free State, a self-governing nation of the British Commonwealth, the following year. Ireland’s six northern counties opted out of the Free State and remained with the United Kingdom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQoHjGXoLO4&feature=emb_title

 

1.    There is no ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in Irish

There are no words for "yes" or "no" in Irish, but that doesn't mean there's no way to answer a question. You communicate "yes" and "no" with a verb form. 

 

2.    Its word order is Verb Subject Object and not Subjet Object Verb

 

Sentences have Verb Subject Object order. So "I saw a bird" would be "Saw I a bird." "I always speak Irish" would be "Speak I Irish always." This word order is relatively rare—only 9 percent of the world's languages use it.

 

3.    The words for numbers depend on whether you're counting humans or non-humans.

 

The Irish have a set for counting humans and a set for counting non-humans. So, five children are different then but five horses. 

 

4.    1.77 million people speak Irish in Ireland today. The language has spread outside of Ireland, too: 18.000 Americans speak Irisih at home and 9.000 Irish speakers in Great Britain.