text: The most significant development in recent decades has been a rise in the number of urban Irish speakers. This community, which has been described as well-educated and largely middle-class, is largely based on an independent school system (called gaelscoileanna at primary level) which teaches entirely through Irish. These schools perform exceptionally well academically. An analysis of "feeder" schools (which supply students to tertiary level institutions) has shown that 22% of the Irish-medium schools sent all their students on to tertiary level, compared to 7% of English-medium schools. Given the rapid decline in the number of traditional speakers in the Gaeltacht it seems likely that the future of the language is in urban areas. It has been suggested that fluency in Irish, with its social and occupational advantages, may now be the mark of an urban elite. Others have argued, on the contrary, that the advantage lies with a middle-class elite which is, for cultural reasons, simply more likely to speak Irish. It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene (mostly urban) may comprise as much as 10 per cent of Ireland's population.
  Northern Ireland and the language
  Since the partition of Ireland, the language communities in the Republic and Northern Ireland have taken radically different trajectories. While Irish is officially the first language of the Republic, in Northern Ireland the language only gained official status a century after partition with the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022. Irish in Northern Ireland declined rapidly during the 20th centuries, with its traditional Irish speaking-communities being replaced by learners and Gaelscoileanna.  A recent development has been the interest shown by some Protestants in East Belfast who found out Irish was not an exclusively Catholic language and had been spoken by Protestants, mainly Presbyterians, in Ulster.  In the 19th century fluency in Irish was at times a prerequisite to become a Presbyterian minister.