Ráth Chairn (anglicised as Rathcairn or Rathcarran)[1] is a small village and Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) in County Meath, Ireland.

According to the 2016 census 16% of the population of Ráth Chairn and Baile Ghib speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system.

This "colony" was also a social experiment to redress the 17th-century ethnic cleansing of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell’s draconian action ‘To hell or Connaught’.

The initiative promised potential migrants a higher quality of life, greater crop yields than Connemara and newly built homes.

Each family was provided with a Land Commission house and a farm of approximately 8.9 hectares (22 acres), a sow, piglets and basic implements.