Irish language and accent

One particular thing to Ireland is the accent of the people living there.
Each county has its proper dialect and accent, Irish people can even say of which county you do come from and sometimes which city!
But some of them are really difficult to understand. Indeed usually Irish people speak faster than English people and they less articulate the words.
We noticed some differences, for example they won’t say “you” but more “ya”.
It is fair hard to describe the Irish accent, so if you want to get an idea, just watch Irish news.

Map of Ireland Counties

An other thing we can wonder is Does Irish people speak Irish?

All Irish children have to learn Irish at school, but there are only few places where it is spoken fluenty, as first language. Most of Irish people we met couldn't speak fluent Irish, they are speaking english.
But we have been to the west of Ireland in Connemara/Aran Islands, and lots of locals were speaking Irish. And we heard that if you want to get a job in the west of Ireland in pubs or restaurants, you have to speak Irish fluently.
So with what we saw, we can say than Irish People can speak Irish but not fluently exept in some places.

Image: http://tatfoundation.org/ireland.htm