Frequently Asked Questions

Cogar is a social platform built through Irish.

It is designed to give Irish speakers, learners, communities, creators, organisations, and people with an interest in the language a modern online space where Irish is normal, visible, useful, and alive.

Most social media platforms allow Irish, but they are not built around Irish. Cogar is different. The language is not an afterthought, a filter, or a small corner of a larger platform. It is the foundation of the experience.

Our aim is simple: to make it easier for people to use Irish socially, discover Irish-language content, find other speakers, join communities, share posts, promote events, and feel more confident using the language in everyday digital life.

Cogar is not trying to replace existing Irish-language communities, organisations, media outlets, or social spaces. It is being built to connect them, support them, and make Irish-language activity easier to find.

Irish is a living language, but too much of modern digital life happens somewhere else.

People use Irish in schools, homes, conversations, events, radio, music, media, books, podcasts, community groups, and online posts scattered across many platforms. But there is no dedicated modern social platform where Irish is the default environment.

Cogar exists because language needs places to live.

A language grows when people can use it casually, imperfectly, confidently, publicly, and socially. It should not only appear in classrooms, formal statements, or special occasions. It should also appear in jokes, messages, events, recommendations, photos, arguments, questions, friendships, jobs, music, local notices, and ordinary daily conversation.

We want Cogar to help shift the feeling around Irish from pressure or anxiety toward confidence, pride, curiosity, and joy.

Cogar is for anyone who wants to use, learn, support, or discover Irish.

That includes fluent speakers, learners, people returning to the language, people who grew up with Irish, people who feel rusty, people outside Ireland, parents, teachers, artists, musicians, community organisers, businesses, and organisations working through or around the language.

You do not need perfect Irish to belong on Cogar.

The goal is not to judge people. The goal is to create a space where people are encouraged to use the Irish they have, improve over time, and connect with others.

Cogar brings together core social features in an Irish-first environment.

Users can create profiles, post updates, follow other users, send messages, discover content, join groups, and find Irish-language activity. Over time, Cogar will also support features such as events, community notices, media discovery, learning supports, jobs, creator tools, and ways for Irish-language organisations and businesses to reach relevant audiences.

The platform is being built step by step, with early users helping shape what works.

The first goal is not to build a giant platform overnight. It is to build a useful, safe, active space that people genuinely want to return to.

No.

Cogar is for people at different levels of Irish.

Some users will be fluent. Some will be learners. Some may understand more than they can write. Some may want to rebuild confidence after years away from the language.

The platform should support all of those people without making Irish feel intimidating.

That means the experience needs to be welcoming, practical, and forgiving. Irish should be encouraged, but people should not feel that one mistake makes them unwelcome.

On most platforms, Irish-language content is scattered. You have to search for it, already know who to follow, or rely on algorithms that were not designed with Irish in mind.

Cogar starts from the opposite position.

Irish is the centre of the platform. The people, content, communities, events, and discovery tools are all shaped around the language.

That changes the feeling of the space. Instead of Irish being a small exception inside an English-language platform, Cogar makes Irish the normal context.

No.

Cogar is not trying to be a direct replacement for every major social platform.

Those platforms already exist, and many Irish-language creators and communities use them well. Cogar is being built for a more specific purpose: to create a dedicated social layer for Irish-language life online.

People can still use other platforms. Cogar should make it easier to find Irish-language people, content, organisations, events, and opportunities — and then help that activity grow.

Not at this stage.

Cogar is currently being built as a dedicated platform with its own infrastructure, rules, and community standards. The priority is to create a stable, safe, useful product for Irish-language users.

That said, Cogar is being built with long-term flexibility in mind. The broader mission is not to trap people inside another closed platform. It is to support Irish-language digital life in a way that can grow, connect, and adapt over time.

Cogar is developed by Cogar Teicneolaíochta Ltd., with software and product development supported by Busy Little Pixels. Ronán Ó Laoire is the only person currently involved in the project at Busy Little Pixels and Cogar Techneolaíochta.

The company exists to build technology for lesser-used, minority, and underrepresented languages, beginning with Irish.

The first major product is Cogar: a social platform through Irish, designed to support community, discovery, communication, and everyday use of the language online.

Cogar is independent, but it is not being built in opposition to existing organisations.

Irish-language media, community groups, schools, cultural organisations, artists, businesses, and activists already do important work. Cogar aims to make that work easier to discover and easier to connect with.

The platform should become a place where Irish-language activity can be shared, promoted, discussed, and supported.

We are supportive of any organisation, media, or community that is working to promote and support Irish-language activity.

We greatly appreciate any support, guideance or expertise from the community

Cogar has just launched.

That means the app is still at early stages while the product, community tools, moderation systems, and being consitently improved.

The focus right now is careful growth: learning from real users, fixing issues, improving the experience, and preparing the platform for a wider public release.

Cogar is now available on the App Store and Play Store, or at https://cogar.ie.