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Phelim Birch

@phelimbirch.bsky.social
63 followers 125 following 108 posts

Data Science graduate @ucc.ie, Celtic sociolinguistics researcher, digitising historical Irish political boundaries at civgraph.net

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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
civgraph.net has overhauled the layout of its maps section - among the improvements are descriptions for the maps and elections, some of which were written by myself (with more coming in the future)
Civgraph's map catalogue, showing a townlands map with the following description:

Townlands are the smallest territorial division that cover the entirety of Ireland, and are grouped to make up larger areas such as civil parishes and electoral divisions. Townland boundaries have changed little over the centuries.

For an online index of digitally mapped townlands, see the Townlands.ie project.

Wikipedia: Townland · Townlands.ieCivgraph's election catalogue, showing the 2024 and 2020 Irish general elections with the following descriptions:

Election for the 34th Dáil, triggered due to the end of the 33rd Dáil’s tenure. A second Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition government (swapping out the Green Party for a group of 9 independents) was elected, with Micheál Martin and Simon Harris being reappointed as rotating Taoisigh.
Wikipedia: 2024 Irish general election

Election for the 33rd Dáil, triggered due to instability within the 32nd Dáil. An unprecedented Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Green Party coalition government was elected, with Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar being appointed as rotating Taoisigh. Simon Harris was appointed as Taoiseach after Varadkar’s resignation in April 2024.
Wikipedia: 2020 Irish general election
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Lowkey embarrassed that I'm only now finding out about Garret FitzGerald's distinguished career as a statistician. I read a fascinating paper a couple years ago that he seemingly worked on during his campaign season(s) of 1982 and his time serving as Taoiseach
ESTIMATES FOR BARONIES OF MINIMUM LEVEL OF IRISH-SPEAKING AMONGST SUCCESSIVE DECENNIAL COHORTS: 1771-1781 TO 1861-1871

By Garret FitzGerald, M.R.I.A.

[Received after revision 4 October 1983. Read 30 November 1983. Published 13 July 1984.]

ABSTRACT
The object of this paper is to establish an approximate minimum level of Irish-speaking in respect of successive new generations of young people in different parts of Ireland (the geographical unit employed being the barony) from around 1770 to 1870. The age-group tables for Irish-speaking in the 1881 census are the principal source of data, and similar data from the less satisfactory 1851 and 1861 censuses
 are also used. The validity of the methodology is discussed. The pattern of decline and survival of Irish in different parts of the island is considered and further possibilities for work in this area are suggested.(Extract from the RIA's Dictionary of Irish Biography)

FitzGerald privately admitted that he was ill at ease with the populist aspects of Irish politics, preferring intelligent conversation to the loud music characteristic of late-night party social events, and finding relief from the razzmatazz of campaigning in calculating the rate of decline of the Irish language during the nineteenth century. (This research was subsequently published in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy).
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Getting a perfect Redactle score is easily in my top 5 accomplishments
Today's three-word Redactle solved in 3 guesses
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Comically absurd segregation barrier that makes the real issue at hand glaringly obvious
Peadar Tóibín TD

Aontú is working on a Bill seeking a rudimentary knowledge of the Irish language for those applying for Irish citizenship.

Irish is our first language. Its an enormous part of our heritage & identity.

Its important that new citizens have respect for Irish values & culture.DÁIL ÉIREANN

[AN BILLE UM NÁISIÚNACHT AGUS SAORÁNACHT ÉIREANN (LEASÚ), 20XX]
[BILLE DÁLA]

[IRISH NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) BILL 20XX]
[DÁIL BILL]

Leasú maidir le Riachtanas Eolais ar an nGaeilge
Irish Language Knowledge Requirement Amendment

[The page and line references in this amendment are to the text of the Bill as initiated / as amended in Committee, as appropriate.]"Basic Irish language test.

15F.—(1) A certificate of naturalisation shall not be granted to an applicant who is aged 18 years or over under section 15, 15A or 16 unless the applicant has passed, in accordance with this section, a basic Irish language test.

(2) The basic Irish language test shall be free of charge and shall be made available in a reasonable and accessible manner.

(3) The test shall be a short oral assessment designed only to ascertain whether the applicant can—

1. state, in Irish, the official Irish name of the town, city or village and county in which the applicant ordinarily resides;
2. state, in Irish, the names of Baile Átha Cliath, Corcaigh, Luinmeach, Gaillimh and Port Láirge
3. count in Irish from one to 10; and
4. understand and use appropriately in context the expressions 'Sláinte', 'Fáilte', 'Go raibh maith agat' and 'le do thoil'.
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Same energy as Eric Kripke coming out and saying this about the Hughie rape scene in The Boys
Variety interviewer: Let’s start with the Tek Knight sex dungeon part. Where did the idea come for it? And why bring Hughie into this situation now — kicking him when he’s down by having him sexually assaulted by his childhood hero after his dad just died?

Eric Kripke: Well, that’s a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious.
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
(To be clear this post is an expression of admiration and not degradation - I sent the poor Tayto researcher some unfortunate news)
My reply on Reddit:

Early attempts at adopting emojis (and indeed any internet feature) are so precious

On a more serious note I checked the Google Play and iTunes links and both are dead :(
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Oh to be young and doing Tayto research
Reddit post from r/AskIreland

does the tayto emoji app still exist?

hi im not irish nor do i live in ireland
but i really love taytos

i was doing tayto research and found out that there was a tayto emoji app back in 2016

apparently its only available in ireland or something (sorry i have bad memory i did search alot though)

does anyone know if it still exists though i dont think it would be around nowadays but im just a bit curious

thank you
(this is really serious please im so passionate)
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Just put up a map of Northern Ireland's District Electoral Divisions at the time of partition (i.e. before they were gerrymandered in 1923) on civgraph.net This may be of interest to those looking to create maps of hypothetical 32-county Dáil constituencies #speirgorm
A map of Northern Ireland's 03/05/1921 District Electoral Divisions on Civgraph
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Productive day at the NLI today. Expect a flood of DED maps in the near future
The National Library of Ireland
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I am also of course happy that Cork isn't being left out here
Council aquires €35m site for new city library in Cork (12 May 2026)
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Beast mode
The municipal elections, held in the month of January, were conducted in a satisfactory manner and few complaints reached us. In the County Borough of Belfast one candidate had himself nominated for the entire fifteen wards of the city, forcing in ten of the wards a contest which would otherwise have been avoided. The matter was brought before us by the Corporation, who suggested that provision should be made requiring that no candidate should be nominated for more than one ward, and that each candidate should be obliged to lodge a deposit of not less than £5 with his nomination ; but having taken legal advice, we found that we had no power under the existing law to give effect to this suggestion.
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I appreciate the crude constituency maps
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Got a copy of these yesterday
Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922 & Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1918-92
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
New DED/ward maps on civgraph.net 1944 (Waterford extension) 1943 (Howth ward established) 1942 (Crumlin ward extension) 1941 (Dublin extension) 1936 (Dublin ward reform) 1931 (Dublin extension) We now have a full set of DED/ward maps from 1921 to present day 🥳
List of Civgraph's electoral division maps for the 26 counties
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
New local authority maps now on civgraph.net 1927 (Donegal rename reversion) 1921 (Partition) 1920 (Laois, Offaly, Donegal renaming) 1915 (County Antrim extension via Portrush)
Local Authorities 1915List of pre-partition local authority maps on CivgraphNew post-partition local authority maps available on Civgraph
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Reading through the profoundly sad in hindsight 1920s Irish Department of Education reports
This order was followed by the issue of a circular in April, 1922, which in announcing the adoption for National schools of the National Conference Programme, described in the previous chapter, outlined clearly the wishes and aims of the new Government in the matter of elementary education on Saorstát Éireann with particular reference to the teaching of Irish and the use of the language in the teaching of the other subjects of the programme. As a result of these steps Irish is now not only a subject in all schools but a medium of instruction in an increasing number.The Summer Courses are only a transitional method of dealing with the situation until the Training Colleges have trained every teacher thoroughly in Irish. For this latter purpose Irish has been made an essential subject of the programme for candidates for entrance to the Training Colleges, and for the students in training.Summer Courses - The Department continued to subsidise Summer Courses in Irish, and in the teaching of Secondary School subjects through the medium of Irish, which were organised by the three Colleges of the National University, and by other educational bodies. The number of teachers who availed themselves of these courses fell from 359 in 1925 to 299 in 1927. It is true that attendances at lectures during the month of July makes a heavy demand on the energy of teachers, tired after a hard year's work.While there is now no Secondary School recognised by the Department of Education in which Irish is not being taught, there is a considerable number of schools which, although teaching the language itself efficiently, confine its use and practice to the actual Irish lesson, neither using it as a medium of instruction for other subjects nor allowing it any part in the general life of the school. In that case, it is not to be wondered at if the pupils, in after life, cling to the habit they have acquired at school, and feel that Irish is a language to be spoken only on special occasions. Such pupils are bound, through want of practice, to forget gradually whatever Irish they have learned.
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Nirvanna an Banna an Clár an Scannán
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
We're now back to pre-spelling reform names as Gaeilge
1947 Dáil constituencies in Irish
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I've also put up a few more District Electoral Division/ward maps 1955 (Cork and Waterford extensions) 1954 (Dublin ward reform) 1953 (Dublin extension) 1950 (Limerick extension + new DED formation) 1946 (Dublin ward reform)
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I've now finished digitising the 1947 Dáil constituencies! These were used in the 1948, 1951, 1954 and 1957 elections. civgraph.net#layers=dail-... #speirgorm
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Prior to 1946 Dublin had a pretty long streak of defining its wards using its already existing wards. Took me a while to track all this down
Spreadsheet showing where Dublin's 1936 wards are derived fromMy collection of ward definition texts
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
"Lads we have to make sure the fish can vote"
North Dock Ward in 1948North Dock ward in 1958
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The result is a load of tiny changes that would literally only matter if, say, someone 72 years in the future was able to make a ridiculously detailed map using advanced technology
A tiny change in the border between the wards of Cabragh East and Inns Quay. The 1954 border (on the right) specifically mentions the 1913 Citizen Army memorial, the 1946 border (on the left) projects downward from Phibsborough Public Library
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Currently transcribing Dublin's 1946 ward descriptions (example on left). I'm amused by the decision in 1954 to make that year's descriptions (example on right) more wordy
1946 ward description example1954 ward description example
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Features:
- Infinite scrolling, no need to flick thru pages
- Use the search bar to search by all attributes - or use advanced search to search by particular attributes
- Export all 1.5 million records, or part of them, as a spreadsheet
- Share links to records easily with others
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Civgraph has just launched Independent PRONI Search, an improved version of the Public Record Office NI's online catalogue. civgraph.net/proni #speirgorm
Independent PRONI Search home page
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
This is really cool. Crazy how different the Cork boundaries are to reality
2023 Cork electoral boundariesProposed Cork electoral boundaries from the studyProposed midland county boundaries from the study
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Attended #AGINI26 with @scottmoore0.bsky.social today
Me and Scott with our presentation posterThe Civgraph presentation posterMy conference badgeThe presentation poster (digital version)
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Three more sets of digitised Dáil constituency maps now available on civgraph.net 1969 (used in 1969 and 1973 elections) 1961 (used in 1961 and 1965 elections) 1959 (deemed unconstitutional, never used) #speirgorm
1969 Dáil constituencies1961 Dáil constituencies1959 Dáil constituencies
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Percentage of (self proclaimed) #Irish / #Gaeilge speakers in Ireland by county, 1851-2022
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Percentage of #Welsh / #Cymraeg speakers in Wales by historic county, 1891-2021
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Percentage of #Gaelic / #Gàidhlig speakers in Scotland by historic county, 1881-2022
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Go raibh maith agat! Peel is the closest town to Bunscoill Ghaelgagh (the Manx-language primary school), so it likely has more students/alumni/parents of students than areas further away
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Alt version with a more consistent division
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Percentage of #Manx / #Gaelg speakers in the Isle of Man by local authority, 1901-2021
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Limerick and Waterford
Limerick pre-1971 ward reformLimerick post-1971 ward reformWaterford pre-1970 ward reformWaterford post-1970 ward reform
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Cork and Dublin
Cork pre-1971 ward reformCork post-1971 ward reformDublin pre-1971 ward reformDublin post-1971 ward reform
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
The ward reforms were done to make the job of dividing the cities/County Dublin into local electoral areas & Dáil constituencies easier
News article on Cork's ward reformNews article on Dublin's ward reformNews article on Limerick's ward reformNews article on Waterford's ward reform
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
New District Electoral Division/ward maps now on civgraph.net 1971 (Cork ward reform, Dublin ward reform, Limerick ward reform, Dublin DED reform) 1970 (Waterford ward reform) 1966 (Waterford extension) 1965 (Cork extension) 1957 (County Wicklow extension via Bray)
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Visited the site of This House Believes That Political Correctness Is Gay today
Trinity College Dublin Phil(osphical Society) Hilary term schedule
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Well that was a fun side project. Back to the Dublin ward maps now
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
My mistake, they were ceded to Waterford county in 1840 and then transferred to Kilkenny in 1899. Regardless, my map only depicts the city and is therefore correct
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Are you referring to the North Liberties? Those were ceded in 1840
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
It was not an isolated case either, prior to the abolition of town councils in 2014 the boundaries of Naas and Sligo were also circles
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Kilkenny
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Galway
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Thread of my Republic of Ireland city territorial evolution maps
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Territorial evolution of #Dublin city, 1900-present #speirgorm
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Territorial evolution of #Waterford City/Metropolitan District, 1840-present #speirgorm
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Phelim Birch @phelimbirch.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Territorial evolution of #Limerick City/Metropolitan District, 1840-present #speirgorm
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