Vol. 508 No. 5
49 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the consultations, if any, she has had with the Central Statistics Office with regard to the possibility of obtaining more comprehensive information in the next census of population on attitudes and use of the Irish language and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19141/99]
A new question was asked in the 1996 census of population as to frequency of usage of the Irish language by the population of the country, aged three years and over. In order to establish a trend it will be necessary that a similar question be asked in future censuses. This question has provided very useful information on language usage patterns.
The Deputy will appreciate that there is a limit to the amount of information that can be sought in a census and in my view another method, such as a comprehensive linguistic survey, is the appropriate way to obtain more comprehensive information on attitudes and usage. As the Deputy is aware, such surveys have been carried out, the latest in 1993.
