evidence: Since the partition of Ireland [edit]Following the partition of Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland (which remained part of the United Kingdom), the largest Irish-speaking area in the former province of Ulster; County Donegal; had gone into the Irish Free State. However, there were Gaeltacht areas (communities who continued to speak Irish as their first language) in Northern Ireland at the time; the most prominent of these were the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone and County Londonderry, Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim in County Antrim, Aghyaran in County Tyrone, parts of south Armagh and Cashel in south-west County Fermanagh. Since 1921, the Irish language has been regarded with suspicion by many unionists in Northern Ireland, who have associated it with the Republic of Ireland and with Irish republicanism.[11] [...] Status [edit]Most Irish speakers in Ulster today speak the Donegal dialect of Ulster Irish.