Clive D.W. Feather <clive@davros.org> wrote:
>
> It will remain an official EU language because of Ireland (Irish has never
> been an official EU language).

Irish has been an official working language since 2007 -
http://ec.europa.eu/education/official-languages-eu-0_en

But it's more complicated than that: Irish has been a "treaty language"
since 1973, which means it was official in some (but not all) contexts.
And since 2007 there is a derogation which says not all documents have to
be translated into Irish; this derogation will end by 2022.

There's a fairly good summary at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union#Irish
with some discussion of the arguments around the status of English a
few paragraphs below.

Tony.
--
f.anthony.n.finch  <dot@dotat.at>  http://dotat.at/
Shannon: South becoming cyclonic 6 to gale 8, decreasing 4 or 5 later.
Moderate or rough becoming rough or very rough. Rain or showers. Good,
occasionally poor.