The 'Baile' organisation is currently laying plans to build a housing development in the urban east of the country which would allow Irish speakers to utilise the resources of the capital while also living in a Gaeltacht-style environment.

According to Baile coordinator Ronan Mac Murchaidh, the group has already received 300 replies to its online questionnaire from people interested in the concept.

The majority of respondents thus far have been women in their early 20s.

Group secretary Ciaran Dunbar says drawing young families into the project is vital, as other Gaeltacht community projects have relied too heavily on an ageing Irish-speaking population.

He believes children in the Baile development will be more likely to use Irish because they will be surrounded by Irish speakers and will not feel isolated, as may be the case in the city, where Irish speakers are diffused.

The structure of the community has not, however, been decided on yet as the group is seeking input from participants about how the project should work. Mac Murchaidh, whose background is in marketing, says Baile is applying businessrelated skills to the social enterprise to find out what Irish-speakers would look for in a new housing project.

Baile will hold focus groups in Belfast, Dundalk and Dublin in the coming months as a form of "market research" for the idea. "The last thing we want to do is force our ideas on anybody else, " Mac Murchaidh said.

"We don't want anything that is drastically against everybody's thinking."

He said the community may consist of individual homes mortgaged by families, or may end up as a series of apartment buildings, depending on what the participants are interested in.

The project may also feature Irish-speaking schools and stores.

Despite the fact Irish will be the primary language of the participants, the group will not seek official recognition from the government as a gaeltacht area, nor will it receive housing grants for the project.

Mac Murchaidh says the decision to create an Irishspeaking community is not intended to have political implications but is more a simple decision to bring together likeminded people.

"Say you speak Irish and you have children and you want them to be in an Irish environment, but you're working in Dublin. It would be difficult to move into the Gaeltacht areas. This would be the most convenient option, " he said.

"We don't have any agenda.

We're just trying to build something for ourselves."

While Baile is focused on creating one working development, Dunbar hopes Irish speakers will be able to use the group's research to start similar communities in the future.

"Instead of building a fortress around the Irish language, we want to plant a seed that would popularise the Irish language, " he said.