FYI, Gaeilge is compulsory all the way up to the end of secondary school in Ireland (17/18yo). It certainly had its naysayers, but learning a second language i

FYI, Gaeilge is compulsory all the way up to the end of secondary school in Ireland (17/18yo). It certainly had its naysayers, but learning a second language is shown to improve empathy and cognitive abilities in children. Certainly there's an argument to learn something more practical, but at least Gaeilge acts as a bulwark to the onslaught of English language media from US/UK that could easily drown out a small open country like Ireland's indigenous material.