The Gaeltacht is made up of the collective regions of Ireland where the Irish government recognises that Irish is the predominant vernacular (i.e. ordinary informal spoken language).
The Gaeltacht covers large areas of counties Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Kerry as well as smaller areas of counties Cork, Meath and Waterford. As of the 2022 Census, there were 106,220 people living in the Gaeltacht. In 2019, the Government categorised 26.9% of the Gaeltacht residents as ‘Disadvantaged’ or ‘Very Disadvantaged’.