Vol. 443 No. 5
15 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the submission made by Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge on the status of the Irish language in the European Union; his response to the submission; the steps, if any, he intends to take to have Irish recognised as an official language of the Community; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
25 Mr. Creed asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any, the Government is taking to secure the status of official language of the European Union for Irish in the context of proposed enlargement.
I propose taking Questions Nos. 15 and 25 together.
The present situation in relation to the status of Irish in the European Union was established at our entry to the Community in 1973 and it has been given legal expression in Article 3 of our Accession Treaty. The effect is that Irish is a language of the Treaties and all the basic Treaties, including the Treaties of Accession, the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty are available in the Irish language. Irish is not, however, a working language of the Union and it was not included among the list of "official and working languages of the Institutions of the Community" which was appended to the legally binding instrument of the Council which formally established the language regime of the Union.
I am aware of the submission made by Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge on the status of the Irish language in the European Union. I am satisfied that it would not have been appropriate to have sought to raise an institutional matter of this kind in the course of the recently completed enlargement negotiations since we were anxious to see a speedy and successful conclusion which will allow the four applicant countries to accede to the Union by 1 January 1995. However, the question of the language regime to apply to Community institutions is likely to be one of the institutional issues which will be raised at the Intergovernmental Conference in 1996.
I have asked officials of my Department, with officials from other interested Departments, including in particular the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, to look into the matter in depth and to consider whether the Government should raise the issue of the status of Irish at the Intergovernmental Conference in 1996. I understand that they will be arranging an early meeting with representatives of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge to discuss its views on the position of Irish in the European Union.
My question arises from a submission made by Comhdháil Náisiuínta na Gaeilge in which the support of the Minister was sought for the recognition of Irish as an official language of the European Union. It makes the case that 500 posts could be created for translators and a contribution could be made towards developing a positive attitude towards the language in Ireland if Irish was recognised as an official EU language. Does the Minister regard those as worth-while objectives?
I have seen the submission made by Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge and I will shortly be arranging a meeting between representatives of my Department, the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht and the Comhdháil to discuss the implications of its objectives. I will examine all the options, including the granting of full official status for Irish. The primary aim of the Union in any consideration of the language regime in 1996 will perhaps relate to its streamlining. To put this in context, in an enlarged Union of 16 member states the number of official and working languages will increase to 12 and each meeting at Union level will have a possible 132 interpreting combinations, requiring the presence of up to 42 interpreters at any one time. If the Union should be enlarged further to 20 states or more the number of interpreters per meeting would increase to 55.
An aontódh an tAire go mbéadh sé i bhfad níos fearr dá mbéad stádas teanga aitheanta ag an Ghaeilge san Aontas Eoraipe, nach mbéadh stádas phríomh-teanga oifigiúil ag an dteanga agus go mbéadh cuideachta don teanga ar fáil as Aontas na hEorpa?
Maith an fear.
Aontaím leis an Teachta.
Is the Deputy happy with that reply? I have some difficulty with his Dublin Irish.
Why did the Minister not use his headphones?
I did not think he was going to go on for so long.
I asked the Minister——
I would like to facilitate other Deputies.
——if it would not be much more beneficial for the Irish language if instead of giving it first official language status in Europe, with all that implies, real benefits were conferred on it as a minority language on the periphery of Europe and real help given to ensure its renewal within our jurisdiction?
That sounds like a reasonable suggestion and it will be raised during our discussions with the Comhdháil. Obviously we want to foster the language but whether its acceptance as a first language of the Union would lead to it being fostered is probably questionable. These matters will be discussed in an open way with the Comhdháil, with the 1996 intergovernmental conference in mind. I will report back to the House on the options we propose to pursue.
