Folklore traditions also suffered with the decline of Irish. Edward McCarron's Life in Donegal recalls how, in the 1840s, there had been a storyteller in every two or three townlands but that (1898) 'these old Irish stories are now dying out because the Irish in which they were told is almost dead'.

In 1935, the Irish government set up the Irish Folklore Commission to systematically collect tales, prayers, proverbs, riddles and songs. A few extracts may be found on the www.mayoalive.com/MagMay96/Folklore website. The Department of Irish Folklore at UCD is the immediate successor to the Irish Folklore Commission (1935-71) and holds its collections, which are described in detail in Seán Ó Súilleabháin's A Handbook of Irish Folklore, covering aspects of folk narrative, customs, beliefs, music, song and dance.

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