Tweet

For Today’s Geo Quiz, it helps to speak Irish. Traditional Irish is still spoken in some pockets of Ireland. These districts are scattered up and down the rocky west coast:

“Country Donegal in the northwest of the island, and then in Mayo they’ve got Irish speaking districts, and then Galway, and then in Kerry, you’ve probably heard of Kilearny, County Cork as well and in Country Meath in the Midlands. It just happens to be the case that the Irish speaking districts, are districts of stunning natural beauty so you should pay a visit”.

Well, hold off on travel plans for just a minute and try to answer our Geo Quiz question. It’s simple: What’s the collective name for all of the country’s Irish-speaking districts?

---

Geo Answer:

The answer is the Gaeltacht, the collective name for the parts of Ireland where Irish is still spoken. The Irish language has become something of a hot button issue in upcoming national elections. Irish Times political writer Deaglan de Breadun tells anchor Lisa Mullins about a new proposal to drop that requirement coming from Ireland’s main opposition party, Fine Gael.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3