OCR Text |
Show 4 ' IRISH-SPEAKING PERSONS IN IRELAND. According to the census of 1S91 the number of per- sons ret urned as speaking ''Irish only" was 38,121, "Irish and English," 642,053; total who could speak Irish, 680,174. These figures, however, were mostly taken- 1 down by the police strangers in a strange land knew little and cared less as to the accuracy of the answers, i while such was the disregard for Irish at the time that thousands of persons who thought and spoke, prayed -and talked, and bought and sold in Irish, and could' only say "Yes" and "Xo" in English are well known to " have entered themselves as English-tpeaking persons. Making due allowance for this class, the number of Irish speakers in 1891 could not have been less than one-fifth and was more likely one million, or one-fourth one-fourth of the population of Ireland. These are very unevenly un-evenly distributed through the various-coinitrios of the district, ranging' in some Baronies, like Ross (in Gal-way), Gal-way), from 99 per cent of the population to 41, as in Clonderlaw (in Clare.) 4 . : |