Locale Ga Ie

Reference data for the Irish (Ireland) locale — endonym Gaeilge (Éire), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: ga-IE
• ISO 639-1: ga
• ISO 639-3: gle
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: IE (Ireland)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 170,000
• L2 (additional): 1,730,000
• L1+L2 (total): 1,900,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale Ga 001 (Irish), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, two, few, many, other (5 forms).

• one — n = 1 (e.g. 1)
• two — n = 2 (e.g. 2)
• few — n = 3..6 (e.g. 3~6)
• many — n = 7..10 (e.g. 7~10)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 11~25, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale Ga 001 with the conventions of Ireland.

• Status: Irish is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland and the Official Languages Act 2003 requires public bodies to provide key documents in Irish. Irish text should carry equal status with English in bilingual material.
• Formats: euro; dates 17 Deireadh Fómhair 2026; 24-hour clock; decimal point.
• Dialects: Munster, Connacht, and Ulster Irish differ in speech; the Caighdeán Oifigiúil is the written standard; use the standard unless the project targets a dialect.
• Names: Irish personal and place names (Ó, Mac, Nic, Uí) follow Irish rules for lenition and eclipsis; do not anglicize them.

Common pitfalls

• Using English word order in bilingual material.
• Using a dialect form in standard text.
• The general pitfalls in Locale Ga 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Tearma.ie (https://www.tearma.ie)