Ireland has two official languages, English and Gaelic. All the people speak English, and they have a soft accent called a brogue. Gaelic is a form of the ancient Celtic language. The Gaelic spoken in Ireland is generally called Irish. It almost died out when Britain ruled Ireland. But since Ireland became independent in the early 1900's, many Irish people have attempted to bring the language into wider use. Today, Irish schools teach Gaelic, as well as English. About 30 per cent of the people state that they can speak Gaelic well enough to use it in conversation. But only some of them use Gaelic as their everyday language. The Irish government uses both English and Gaelic for official business.