asked the Taoiseach if in view of his statement last September that the Fine Gael Party were then aware that the report of the Commission on the Restoration of the Irish Language would be available within a month of that time he will state why the Report is not yet available.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Report of Irish Language Commission.
33.
The statement referred to was corrected a few days later in a speech made by me at a public meeting in Limerick.
The Taoiseach made an inaccurate speech?
I had relied too much on forecasts which had been given to me.
It would not be the first time.
Will the Taoiseach agree it would have been better if he had maintained silence on the first occasion?
Obviously, but the Deputy will agree I corrected my mistake as quickly as possible.
Might I direct the Taoiseach's attention to the fact that the election intervened?
It did not.
34.
asked the Taoiseach when the report of the Commission on the Irish Language will be available.
I cannot yet indicate the date on which the report will be available.
Is it not a fact that the Taoiseach stated during the election that the report would be made available quickly?
It will be appreciated, of course, that this is a voluntary committee, the members of which have many other activities in which to engage themselves. They were handicapped for a time, I found, by reason of the fact that their secretary, who is a high official of the Minister for Finance, had been taken away from the work and was sent to participate in important negotiations relating to taxation agreements on the Continent. When I found that out, I arranged that he would be brought back from that work and made available wholetime to the Committee to enable them to complete their report as quickly as possible. The position, I understand, is that the report is more or less in the final stages of drafting.
They were still a voluntary committee last September. There has been no change in their character but the Taoiseach was able to announce we knew the report was ready.
There were varying estimates as to when the report would be ready. As soon as I announced it, I ascertained it was too optimistic.
Might I remind the Taoiseach he told me 12 months ago the report was about to be published?
Indeed. They had given me to understand it might be available.
The best thing the Taoiseach could do is to send the Minister for Lands there as the secretary to help them to get it out quickly.