§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is of the number of speakers of (a) each European lesser-used language and (b) other languages used in Northern Ireland. [149227]
§ Angela SmithThe following table provides details of speakers of lesser-used languages recognized under the Council of Europe?s Charter of Regional or Minority Languages:
Language Speakers Source and comments Irish 106,844 Persons aged three and over (NI census, 2001). In total 167,490 persons have 'some knowledge? of Irish Ulster-Scots 35,000 Approximate, based on 2 per cent. Of population. (NI Life and Times Survey, 1999) We have no information on the number of users of other European lesser-used languages. I estimate their numbers to be minimal
The approximate numbers of speakers of other languages used in Northern Ireland are as follows:
1157WThere are also smaller numbers of other language speakers such as Albanian; Turkish; African Languages such as Swahili; Afghani; Russian; Japanese; Hebrew; Korean; Vietnamese; Mallayo; Thai and speakers of other European Languages such as French and Spanish (both from those countries and from other countries where those languages are spoken). In total there are over 70 minority ethnic languages spoken in Northern Ireland (Holder, 2003).