My knowledge of the language is, to say the least, limited but I make occasional and sporadic attempts to improve it. What is a bit surprising is that there are those who find the notion of anyone trying to learn Irish an irritant. They appear to get positively angry at the idea. 'Dead language' is one of the phrases that is always used though as a description it appears to be wishful thinking rather than a description of reality. Andt seems you shouldn't learn Irish because Yeats, Wilde, Joyce (well, sometimes),Shaw etc all wrote in English. Which is about as useful as telling a citizen of Prague that he shouldn't speak Czech because Kafka wrote in German. But talking about writers here's what James Plunkett has to say on the subject. He was in Dingle and was recognised by a native of the place. He was pleased to be so but perhaps slightly embarrassed. As he says ...
" If he had presented me with the Freedom of Dingle, I wouldn't have been so genuinely honoured and I felt, not for the first time, that before I die I will speak my native language adequately enough to talk with those of my countrymen who have it from birth, so that they won't shame me by having to change to English on my account."
That paragraph struck a chord with me for I have been a guest in a house in Mayo where the normal day-to-day language of the family was Irish. Because of my presence they spoke in English.

In a couple of days time I will be in Paris and, as on previous visits, I will occasionally use my barely adequate French. It's not necessary but I'm told that it's polite to make the effort. Not that I would claim that courtesy is in any way useful or productive.