Gweedore is a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some 26 kilometres (16 mi) from Glasserchoo and Bloody Foreland in the north to Crolly in the south and around 14 kilometres (9 mi) from Dunlewey in the east to Magheraclogher and Magheralosk in the west, and is sometimes described as one of Europe's most densely populated rural areas. It is the largest Irish-speaking parish in Ireland with a population of around 4,065, and is also the home of the northwest regional studios of the Irish-language radio service RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, as well as an external campus of the University of Galway. Gweedore includes the settlements of Brinlack, Bunbeg, Derrybeg, Crolly and Dunlewey, and sits in the shade of County Donegal's highest peak, Errigal.
An aerial view of Gweedore, with Errigal and Magheraclogher Beach
Gweedore natives pictured here in Magheraclogher in 1865
Men fishing with Errigal in the background
A view of Gweedore from Bloody Foreland
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