asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether it is intended to translate the secondary legislation of the European Communities into the first official language of the State as the Accession Treaty does not provide for this.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EEC Legislation Translations.
7.
The translation into Irish of the secondary legislation of the Communities would give rise to serious practical difficulties and it was therefore agreed that such translations would not be prepared.
Can the Minister state what are the difficulties?
The difficulty is with regard to the volume of documentation. In 1971 there were 3,000 Acts adopted and the translation of these Acts into Irish would constitute an enormous amount of work.
Can the Minister give an undertaking that after January next these documents will be provided in Irish?
The volume of work will continue to increase. The Treaty of Accession is drawn up in an authentic Irish text and it provides that the text of the EEC and the EURATOM Treaties, and the Treaties amending and supplementing them, will be drawn up in the Irish language and annexed to the Act of Accession. That gives the Irish language a standing but the practical difficulties of translating documents are enormous.
Is it not correct to say that English is regarded as the mother language whereas, in fact, Irish is the official language?
I think the Deputy is referring to an advertisement which appeared regarding appointments for people whose mother tongue was English. I presume other advertisements asked for people whose mother tongue is German or French. This does not mean that these languages are the mother tongue of people in this country. However, I shall ask for clarification from the Community of what they mean. I presume they mean a person whose first language and the language in which he is most competent is English.
Can the Minister state at what stage the volume is regarded to be at a point when it would no longer be practical to translate into Irish? This would be important for the House and for the Government's official policy with regard to the language. Can the Minister state if there is a statistical point beyond which Irish must no longer be used? Can the Minister state if the Cabinet have considered at what point Irish translation is no longer practical?
The important factor is the availability of manpower. I am referring to people trained in the Irish language who can translate from German to Irish, Irish to German, French to Irish and so on. If manpower became more readily available a greater volume of work could be handled.
Can the Minister state if there is a critical point in this volume which the Cabinet have discovered?
No, we have not drawn a principle from the situation yet. At the moment the manpower available in relation to the volume of translation is not adequate.
(Cavan): I presume these publications will be available through the Stationery Office? Will the Minister instruct the Stationery Office to keep a close check with a view to ascertaining the demand for Irish translations so that steps may be taken to supply that demand in the future?
It would be for ourselves to supply translations of the legislation if the demand exists.
Would the Minister not agree that the person who sits up in the box in the gallery has plenty of time on hands to do that kind of work?
That is the practical nature of the problem in the Communities. In the last few days I have heard one sentence translated from Irish here. There may have been one or two sentences which I did not hear. In actual practice, this is similar to what happens in the Community.
Manpower might be got there.