The boundaries of the Gaeltacht areas may be redrawn if a new study finds that the usage of Irish in these locations has diminished greatly in the past 50 years.
The speaking of Irish in these areas will be examined in a two-year study by NUI Galway and NUI Maynooth, beginning in April.
The €550,223 linguistic study is "vitally necessary" because of the continuing decline in the use of Irish in Gaeltacht areas, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, said on Saturday.
"If this decline continues, it is only a matter of time until there is an end to the Gaeltacht as it was historically understood," he said.
It was "vitally necessary therefore" for his Department to take steps now "to assemble and use comprehensive information as a basis for developing further realistic policies to halt this decline".
No decision on the redrawing of Gaeltacht boundaries would be made until the results of the study had been "considered carefully", he said.
The last major arrangement of Gaeltacht boundaries was made in 1956 when the Department of the Gaeltacht was established.
Mr Ó Cuív said there had been "great changes" since then in terms of language and settlement patterns, and economic, social, and technological change.
The Irish language was under pressure from one of the most widely-used languages in the world, so it was necessary to look at strategies to increase its everyday usage in all aspects of life.
Mr Ó Cuív was speaking at the launch of a development plan for the Irish language and the people of the Iveragh Gaeltacht in Kerry.
