LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Irish Language: Northern Europe
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Although the Gaeltacht is defined as an entirely Irish-language speaking area, the Irish government ... pays families living in the Gaeltacht areas with school-age children to speak Irish. These are inspected and graded according to ability. In the 2006-07 school year, 2,216 families received the full grant of €260 p.a., 937 families received a reduced grant and 225 families did not meet the criteria. This payment scheme is called Sceim Labhairt na Gaeilge, the first example in Europe where citizens are paid to speak their first official language.[31].
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On a more positive note, the Irish Government seems to have abandoned the policy of allowing the language to die by stealth. It has appointed a Minister with specific responsibility for the Gaeltacht regions, Éamon Ó Cuív, and passed the Official Languages Act in 2003 ensuring that every publication made by a Governmental body must be published in both official languages. In addition, it successfully proposed that Irish be afforded official and working language status within the European Union, although it is important to note that this only came about after a sustained campaign by Irish language groups.
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Many public bodies have Irish language or bilingual names, but some have downgraded the language. An Post, the Republic's postal service, continues to have place names in the language on its postmarks, as well as recognising addresses (as does the Royal Mail in Northern Ireland). Traditionally, the private sector has been less supportive, although support for the language has come from some private companies. For example, Irish supermarket chain Superquinn introduced bilingual signs in its stores in the 1980s, a move which was followed more recently by the British chain Tesco for its stores in the Republic.
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Many public bodies have Irish language or bilingual names, but some have downgraded the language. For example, Eircom (formerly Telecom Éireann) effectively dropped Irish from its telephone directories in 1999. An Post, the Republic's postal service, continues to have place names in the language on its postmarks, as well as recognising addresses (as does the Royal Mail in Northern Ireland).
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