Page "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" Paragraph 1

Languages that are official within regions, provinces or federal units within a State ( for example Catalan in Spain ) are not classified as official languages of the State and may therefore benefit from the Charter.

On the other hand, the Republic of Ireland has not been able to sign the Charter on behalf of the Irish language ( although a minority language ) as it is defined as the first official language of the state.

The United Kingdom has ratified the Charter in respect of ( among other languages ) Welsh in Wales and Irish in Northern Ireland.

France, although a signatory, has been constitutionally blocked from ratifying the Charter in respect of the languages of France.