asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will state whether forms relating to unemployment assistance, national health and unemployment insurance are being issued in English in Gaeltacht areas; and, if so, whether he will undertake to have this practice discontinued.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - English Forms in Gaeltacht Areas.
Pádraig Ó Cuinneáin
Unless English forms are expressly requested, Irish forms are used in the case of residents in the Fíor- or Breac-Ghaeltacht who attend at employment exchanges or branch employment offices for the purpose of applying for qualification certificates or for unemployment assistance under the Unemployment Assistance Acts. Persons making application by post are, in order to save time, supplied with Irish and English forms, for use at their own choice, unless they communicate with the local office in Irish when only Irish forms are supplied. Irish forms are used throughout where application is made in Irish.
The same progress in the provision of forms in Irish has not been made in the case of unemployment insurance and it is not intended to alter this position now in advance of the changes which proposals in respect of social insurance will involve.
Forms of application for membership and national health insurance cards printed in the Irish language are available for the use of the agents of Cumann an Árachais Náisiúnta ar Shláinte operating in Gaeltacht areas. Forms for the purpose of drawing benefit are being revised and it is hoped at an early date to have a supply printed in Irish and distributed to the agents in the Gaeltacht for the use of members in these areas.