The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around 46 km2 (18 sq mi). They constitute the historic barony of Aran in County Galway.
Teampall Brecan, Inishmore
A view over the karst landscape on Inishmore, from Dún Aonghasa, an ancient stone fort
Coastal boulder deposits on the west coast of Inishmore. Person standing next to the large boulder on the bedrock platform gives a sense of scale. This is about 16 m above sea level and 90 m inland.
A view over Inishmore, from Dún Eochla, with Inishmaan and Cliffs of Moher in the background
Irish, also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language group, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century.
Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in areas of Ireland collectively known as the Gaeltacht, in which only 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022.
The distribution of the Irish language in 1871
Bilingual sign in Grafton Street, Dublin
Bilingual road signs in Creggs, County Galway
Dublin airport sign in both English and Irish languages