ABSTRACT
The Present Constitutional Status of Irish In Bunreacht na hEireann (The Constitution of Ireland 1937), it is stated in Article 8.1 that 'the Irish language as the national language is the first official language' . It is then stated in Article 8.2 that 'the English language is recognised as a second official language'. Even if these pronouncements are assumed to have been sincerely meant, they are obviously not a straightforward reflection of sociolinguistic reality, either as it existed in 1937 in the Republic of Ireland, or as it has subsequently evolved. The overtly observable fact is, and from the foundation of the Irish State has been, that English is predominantly the language of the State and of its population; Irish is spoken by a small minority only and, apart from its use in education, is used to no more than a minimal degree in public domains. However, closer examination of the Irish speech community reveals that, despite a massive shift to English over the last two centuries, the Irish language has retained sociopolitical, or ethnic, functions which reflect an earlier societal strength and are, in fact, consistent with its high constitutional status. The object of this chapter to describe the principal ways in which older underlying values and contemporary reality have interacted in the evolution of the present position of Irish in the Republic of Ireland.
