Introduction1.1 Historical background information on IrelandPrehistoric Ireland spans the earliest known settlement period around 8000 BC through to protohistoric Gaelic Ireland until at the beginning of the Viking era and in the 5th century the era of Christianization. Notably, the period includes the Hiberno-Scottish mission of Christianized Ireland into pagan Europe and Britain (Campbell, 2014). At the start of this period, Ireland had just emerged from a very mysterious decline which archaeological evidence suggests affected living standards and population levels from around 100 BC to 300 BC. The population was entirely rural and dispersed characterized by small ringforts of human populations (Keating-Miller, 2009). The main activity was hunting and gathering, although archaeological evidence shows that livestock and grain farming was an important economic activity from 200 AD onwards. Cattle were highly prized and cattle raiding constituted a large part of warfare. The recorded history of the Irish people begins with the introduction of Latin literacy and Christianity, starting in the 5th century. One of the most reliable historical events is Pope Calestinus 1's ordination of Palladius as the first Irish bishop of the local Christians in 431. By the 6th century, the church had already developed a separate diocese, although the country was still predominantly pagan (Campbell , 2014). Maps of Ancient Ireland (Campbell, 2014): The Norman invasion of the 12th century marked the beginning of direct English involvement. On 1 May 1169 an army of around 600 men attacked Bannow Strand coinciding with the period of renewed Norman expansion at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murro...... middle of paper......much concern the declining use of Irish and is implementing policies to preserve the language from extinction. Works Cited Bréartúin, C. Ó., & Coistín, S. Ó. (2013). Localization of the software into the Irish language. Multilingual, 24(3), 30-33.Broin, B. Ó. (2013). The changing demographics of the Irish language. Multilingual, 24(3), 24-28.Campbell, K. L. (2014). History of Ireland: from prehistory to the present. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.Edwards, J. (2014). The Irish language: an annotated bibliography of sociolinguistic publications, 1772-1982. London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. Keating-Miller, J. (2009). Language, identity and liberation in contemporary Irish literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Walsh, J. (2012). Language policy and language governance: A case study of Irish language legislation. Language policy,11(4), 323-341.