Hebrew was successfully revived in large part because that had to be the case.
The State’s foundation was a chaotic period. You had Jews arriving from Yemen (Arabic speaking), from Germany (German speaking) and from everywhere in between.
The people needed a lingua franca in which to communicate and the “new” Hebrew (essentially a slightly dumbed down version of the Biblical/Mishnaic version of the language with more Ashkenazic-predominant pronunciation) was chosen as the language of choice.
The problem with Ireland (born there, lived until 25) is that everybody speaks English. Seán Ó hEinirí, in the YouTube clip above, is widely recognized to be the last Irish monoglot. The Irish are justifiably proud of their language. However in a situation where everybody could just speak English anyway it would be very difficult to assemble a critical mass to make that the country’s actual first language.
Another important point: like Hebrew, Ireland is only an official language in Ireland. For the Irish, having England as a first language is a huge global advantage. Your average Irish person, with fluent English, is in a much better position, for the global job market, than an Israeli monoglot whose English needs a lot of improvement. So although Hebrew is certainly the operative language in Hebrew (and of course I view that as a good thing), there are reasons why English being predominant are advantageous too.
