I always disliked Irish (and languages, in general) in school. However, now that I'm over a decade out of college I find it to be one of the few subjects I wish I'd paid more attention to when I'd had the chance... Sure, it's not particularly useful in adult life, but neither is organic chemistry, for most folks.
The main difference for me is that it's relatively easy to "fill in the gaps" for any other subject we learned from the ages of 12-18. Irish however, is niche enough - and learning resources generally technologically behind - that it's still quite tricky to self-teach or "quickly google" answers to things. That makes it unique from most other primary/secondary school subjects which are more universally taught across the world.
I asked that question in school (strange to look back on, as I'm now fascinated by languages), and the only answer the teacher could give was that doing well in Irish would give extra Leaving Cert points. That struck me at the time as depressing.
The main difference for me is that it's relatively easy to "fill in the gaps" for any other subject we learned from the ages of 12-18. Irish however, is niche enough - and learning resources generally technologically behind - that it's still quite tricky to self-teach or "quickly google" answers to things. That makes it unique from most other primary/secondary school subjects which are more universally taught across the world.