County Mayo is home to three Gaeltachts: Erris, Achill and Toormakeady. In these areas the local dialects of Irish-Gaelic are still spoken.
Local dialects
The Irish language survives in various pockets of Western Ireland as a living language. In Mayo, the local name for Gaeilge is 'Gaelic'. It is split into two dialects; that of Erris and Achill in the west of the county and Toormakeady, which is on the border of Connemara.
Erris
Irish is still the living language of two communities in Erris; Aughleam on the Mullet peninsula and Carrowteigue, in the north of the Gaeltacht. In the rest of the barony, remnants of the dialect can still be heard in the English spoken by local people. In Ballycroy, a dialect of Tyrone Irish was spoken by descendants of Irish refugees of the Plantation of Ulster.
Achill
The eastern half of Achill island, the small island of Inishbiggle and the Currane peninsula is home to a significant number of Irish speakers. Like Erris, the Irish spoken here is heavily influenced by Ulster Irish, due to historical influxes of people from Tyrone. Also, the people of Achill had a long history of working alongside people from Donegal when seasonal migration to Scotland was common.
Toormakeady
The Gaeltacht of Toormakeady is found in the south of the county and lies within the historical region known as Joyce Country. The Irish spoken here is different to that of Erris and Achill and forms a dialect continuum with the northern Galwegian dialect. It has, however, some interesting idiosyncrasies of its own.
Use it or lose it
Mayo Irish is still in decline! Let's help preserve our beautiful dialect.
One of a kind
The Gaelic of Mayo is unique to the county and different from standard Gaeilge that is learnt in schools.
Why not learn the living language as it is still spoken?

This website is created by the people of the Mullet Gaeltacht for the people of the Mullet Gaeltacht. All Irish voices heard in the vocabulary section of this website are that of native speakers from the Mullet peninsula. We hope to expand to include other Mayo Gaeltachts in the future.
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Inis Bigil