Liotriocht was established in 1999 to cater for a growing interest in the Irish language abroad.

"We get requests from a lot of people who have no connections to being Irish, just a genuine enthusiasm to learn the language, " said the company's founder Kathleen Fitzgerald.

One recent customer was Kuwaiti woman Abeer alKhamees, who bought Teach Yourself Irish CDs and an Irish English dictionary. So far she has had little difficulty in picking up the language. "I've only been learning the language for a few weeks, but the sounds made are very similar to Arabic, " she told the Sunday Tribune.

However, the lack of familiarity with the Irish language can often cause confusion amongst customs officials abroad.

Chinese resident David Webb ordered a number of books from the website earlier this year, including two Irish/English dictionaries and a Christian Brothers grammar book. He was expecting to begin his lessons earlier in the year, but had to wait till late in the summer to brush up on his Irish, because it took several months for his books to arrive.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune from his home in China, Webb said: "I ordered the books in March, but the Chinese post office kept unwrapping the books, repackaging them and sending them back. Each time I had to pay a cost of 69 for the books to be reposted. It was late July when they finally arrived.

"Most Chinese here would not even be clear of the relationship between England and Ireland.

Many still think it is one country and that [the Irish] don't have a language of their own. So they would be unclear of the content in the books, " he said.