Irish language

Moar ramblings... this may not interest you all. I heard on the radio a few months ago that 70% of non-Irish people didn't even know there was an Irish language. That's pretty sad, considering that in the 1800s [don't quote me on that, my history is abysmal] the Irish didn't even know a word of English. They had to learn it, when the English took control of the country.
But that's enough half-baked Queeneh history...
Of course, Irish still flourishes in certain parts of the country . . . Kerry, Galway, other places. People in these places speak it as fluently as they speak English, and students go here often to brush up on their Irish. After all, it's easy to reel off a few verbs in the classroom [mé, tú, sé, sí, sinn, sibh, siad, easy peasy] but how easy is it to find the right word in an Irish-only conversation? Not easy, methinks.
After all, how many Irish people know the word for money? Kitten? We bought? It goes on. and on. and on. It makes me feel both encouraged and irritated to think that no other country in the world teaches its children Irish. It's irritating to know that French, American, Italian classes don't have to worry about amar and eamar but encouraging to think that no other country has the foggiest what you mean when you say Á! Cá bhfuil mo ríomhaire?? Ó, d'ith an cat é. [it means "Argh! Where's me computer?? Oh, he cat ate it." :D, by the way.]
So there I'll leave you. Thanks for staying on till the end, if you did. :)