evidence: The Irish language (Irish: Gaeilge) is, since 2022, an official[1] language in Northern Ireland. The main dialect spoken there is Ulster Irish (Gaeilge or Gaeilg Uladh). Protection for the Irish language in Northern Ireland stems largely from the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[2] In the 2021 census, Irish was the main language of 0.3% of the population aged 3 and up,[3] an increase from 0.2% in the previous survey,[4] while 12.4% of that population had some ability in Irish, also an increase from previous census results.[3] As well, for the first time, the census asked the frequency of speaking Irish. 43,557 said they spoke Irish on a daily basis, which accounts for 2.43% of Northern Ireland's population.[5] [...] A question about the Irish language was asked until the 1911 census of Ireland, but after partition was not included in the Northern Ireland census until it was reintroduced in 1991, at the 1911 census, the six counties which would become Northern Ireland had 28,734 Irish speakers.[27] According to the 1991 Census, 142,003 people (9.45% of the population) had some language skills ability in Irish.