Did you know that in the 1960s, there were six families from Belfast that together formed the Shaw's Road Gaeltacht group? For those of you unfamiliar with what a Gaeltacht is, the word means Irish speaking region. These Gaeltacht areas are primarily located in the westernmost fringes of the country, however there are small enclaves still dotting other areas of the island. Anyway, this Shaw's Road Gaeltacht group has actually grown in the last few decades, and has even been declared as an official Gaeltacht Quarter of the city of Belfast. They speak Ulster Irish, which is different from southern and western Gaelic in both sound and structure. It shares many similarities and overlaps with Manx and Scottish Gaelic, and so it is thought by linguists and language experts to be somewhat of a middle ground between Irish and Scottish Gaelic. We hope that you learned something new with this fun Irish Gaelic fact.
