A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Ó Méith· Irish · main form · validated name
Omeath· English · main form
Place & story
Irish in the village and mountains
Omeath was a surviving centre of native Irish speech on Ireland's eastern side. Its local variety, Oriel Irish, shared features with Ulster speech while retaining its own characteristics. The railway station opened in 1876, helping the village expand and drawing new English-speaking residents and economic activity into the area. Council historical research distinguishes this growing settlement from the Irish-speaking mountain communities nearby. The history of the language is therefore closely tied to the different opportunities and experiences of people living around the lough and in the surrounding hills.[2]
The college founded in 1912
Coláiste Bhríde opened in Omeath in September 1912, with Sir Henry Bellingham as honorary president. It brought students into a district where Irish remained a community language. The annual arrival of learners made Omeath part of a wider network of language education and cultural revival. In 1926 the college moved to Rannafast in County Donegal, retaining its name. Its fourteen-year Omeath period belongs to the local history of the eastern Gaeltacht as well as to the continuing history of Irish summer colleges.[3]
People & connections
Teachers and visiting revivalists
Peadar O'Dubhda and Eoin MacNeill were among the college's teachers. O'Dubhda worked for many years in the local language revival, while MacNeill became one of the founders of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. Douglas Hyde, Patrick Pearse and the historian Alice Stopford Green also visited the Omeath Gaeltacht. Their connections place the village within overlapping educational, literary and political circles. The surviving record distinguishes those who taught at the college from other prominent visitors who came to the Irish-speaking district.[3]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Omeath — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Omeath, Louth — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Omeath, Louth — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Omeath, Louth — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Omeath, Louth
Published census settlement populations
603people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames