[tom8517]

I'm not sure Sinn Fein will budge on this one. Recognizing Irish as an official language would be a huge win for them. The mechanics of changing road signs, place names etc. could be gradual, there would not need to be a huge money outlay all at once.

Peter Robinson has said there might be room for debate if Ulster Scots is given similar recognition. Sinn Fein is holding out for a stand alone recognition of Irish, their argument being that Ulster Scots is not a native language to Ireland. (neither is English) But there may some room for compromise on this.

As to its use, a fair number of the nationalist population speak some, a smaller number are fluent, fewer yet use it as their day to day language. It's growing in popularity though, particularly among children.

Quite a few of the present day Sinn Fein leadership with IRA backgrounds learned the language behind bars. Irish language classes were very popular in the H blocks.