Number of Irish speakers in Offaly increases -CSO

The number of people who could speak Irish in Offaly increased by more than 400 to 28,231 according to Census 2022. This was 37.3% of the county’s population aged three and over, compared with 38.2% in Census 2016.

Nationally, almost 1.9 million people could speak Irish, or 40% of all people aged three and over, up by more than 112,500 people since 2016 (+6%). There were more female than male Irish speakers in the county, with 42% of females able to speak Irish compared with 33% of males.

The number of people speaking Irish daily (within the education system only) fell, from 9,633 in Census 2016 to 9,043 in Census 2022. There were 419 people speaking Irish daily (outside the education system only) compared with 406 people in 2016.

The Irish language question was expanded in Census 2022 to ask those who spoke Irish how well they spoke it. In Offaly, 2,147 people who could speak Irish spoke it very well (8%), while 9,283 could speak it well (33%), and 15,925 people did not speak it well (56%). In Ireland overall, 10% of Irish speakers could speak the language very well with 32% speaking it well and 55% not speaking it well.

In Offaly the average age at which people completed their full-time education rose from 19 years to 19.9 years. Nationally the average age went from 19.9 years to 20.8 years.

The number of people with a third level qualification in the county rose from almost 15,500 in 2016 to nearly 20,200 in 2022. This was a rate of 37% compared with 45% nationally. There were 236 people in the county who held a PhD, which was 0.6% of all PhD holders across the country.

Over 15,600 people, or 29% of all those aged 15 and over, had completed their full-time education at upper secondary level. This was up from almost 15,000 people in 2016. Nationally, almost 867,400 people had completed their education at upper secondary level (26%).

Just over 9,000 people in Offaly in Census 2022 (17% of all those aged 15 and over) had completed their education at lower secondary level, compared with just over 9,200 people in Census 2016 who indicated they had done so. More than 446,000 people nationally had completed their education at lower secondary level (13%).

Almost 6,700 people aged 15 and overin Offaly had completed their education at primary level or had no formal education (12%). This was down from more than 7,700 people in 2016. Nationally, nearly 332,500 people had completed their education at primary level or had no formal education (10%).