As it happened the Irish Free State cut funding for many areas on the Irish west coast where Irish was spoken because it could no longer afford the expense that the British state put into it.
That's being uncharacteristically kind towards De Valera et al given that one of the main reasons they couldn't afford to keep up the previous levels of state spending in such areas was their own exceedingly conservative attitude towards economic policy and the role of the state; are you feeling alright?
But, yes, the big killer of minority languages is often rural depopulation. One reason why government programmes aimed at saving or preserving minority languages (nearly?) always fail (and so turn into employment rackets for middle class speakers of said minority language with depressing regularity) is because this is rarely taken into account or even really understood.
Poll
