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This article describes and analyses language management and language managers at local and micro-interactional levels in Breacbhaile. Breacbhaile is a pseudonym which is not named for ethical reasons and refers to a Gaeltacht community (an officially designated Irish language territory in Ireland) where the Irish language is spoken to a limited extent. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork over four years, a classification of Irish language managers is proposed according to their practices and motivations. This article examines the organic and institutional language management processes which are taking place every day in Breacbhaile, detailing the dynamics of language management as well as discussing the local agents and agencies of language management. This study bridges a gap in the current lack of discourse and data surrounding the “actors” or agents of language management. The following questions underpin this study; who are the Irish language managers? Who is changing the language behaviour of others? Who is trying to manage the language practices or beliefs of others? What motivates them? What influences their practices? Why are they so important in the Gaeltacht today? This investigation into localised language management offers ample evidence of vitality and agency in a Gaeltacht community undergoing latter stages of language shift to English. This ethnographic case-study showcases the decline of Irish as the dominant vernacular at community level in Breacbhaile while simultaneously profiling various language managers and their resistance to this language shift at an individual level, and thereby advancing our knowledge of the Irish language case. Considerations and implications for future language management efforts in such communities are offered. In an Irish context, these managers are asserting their authority despite widespread language shift to English in their community. The retreat at macro level and delegation of power to language communities through new legislation (i. e. Gaeltacht Act 2012) has created not only space but an integral role for language activism, managers and agencies at micro and local levels.
