Síle de Valera
Question:1 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the number and location of meetings in Ireland which he intends to chair during the Presidency of the EU. [3156/96]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EU Presidency.
Síle de Valera
Question:4 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the way in which he proposes to promote the use of the Irish language during the forthcoming Irish Presidency of the EU. [5920/96]
Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna Uimh. 1 agus 4 le chéile.
I propose to hold one informal meeting for the Minister of Culture and Audiovisual Matters in Galway towards the end of September 1996.
Glacfaidh mé le gach deis oiriúnach chun úsáid na Gaeilge a chur chun cinn le linn cruinnithe, comhdhálacha agus ócáidí eile a bhainfidh le hUachtaránacht na hÉireann ar an Aontas Eorpach. Mar shampla tá breithniú á dhéanamh ar bhonn gníomhach maidir leis na féidearthachtaí i ndáil le háiseanna teangaireachta a chur ar fáil don chruinniú Airí atá beartaithe do Chathair na Gaillimhe i mí Mheán Fómhair. Chomh maith leis sin, tá súil agam eagrán speisialta a fhoilsiú de FÍS, nuachtlitir mo Roinne-se, le fócas ar leith ar chúrsaí an Aontais Eorpaigh. Beidh an t-eagrán sin á fhoilsiú i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla i gcomhréir leis an ngnáth-nós imeachta.
In answering these two questions together the Minister may have been confused. I asked him the number of meetings that will take place outside Dublin. We would all wish to see proper criteria for these meetings. There is a need for regionalisation. I fear that a set of meetings will be held in Dublin and another in Galway with very little in between. There is an opportunity to show that the location of meetings will be decided by their content. Will the Minister outline the work programme he wishes to instigate at these meetings and indicate whether the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht will play any part in an inter-ministerial committee to monitor work during the six month period of the Irish Presidency?
As the Deputy is aware, Ireland will hold the Presidency of the European Union between 1 July 1996 and 1 January 1997 during which period I will be President of the Council of Ministers of Culture and Audiovisual Matters. The usual arrangement is that a formal meeting is held towards the end of the period of the Presidency. A number of informal Council meetings also take place.
The number allocated for the period of the Irish Presidency is seven or eight, but I will not be holding an informal council meeting. I have decided — this was the practice, I think, during the Belgian Presidency — to hold a seminar to address issues affecting the Council of the Ministers of Culture and Audiovisual Matters which have accumulated during the past three years and to envisage the role of the Council in years ahead.
The Galway seminar will address the issues of culture and democracy in an age of rapid technological change, leading in particular to the views of my colleagues in the Council of Ministers of Culture and Audiovisual Matters on the strengthening of Article 128 in Chapter VI of the Maastricht Treaty.
Those are the meetings for which I will have responsibility. Other meetings will also take place. For example, meetings of experts will take place throughout the country where appropriate. A suggested meeting of audiovisual experts is likely to be held at a venue such as DCU. Should other meetings be held they will be held at the most appropriate venue. I will bear in mind the Deputy's views on regionalisation which I share.
As I am sure the Minister appreciates, the best way to demonstrate his interest is to ensure that such meetings take place in the regions. I was interested to hear that he will have discussions on the issues affecting his Department.
I was also interested to learn that the seminar in Galway will address the issues of culture and democracy. I would be very interested in sitting in on what I have no doubt will be an interesting and academic discussion, but I fear this brings us back to the realm of rhetoric versus reality, as it was described in a recent editorial in The Irish Times. I am not just looking to the future, but the current position. That is the reason I am interested in hearing if the Minister intends to set up an inter-ministerial committee to monitor work during the six months of the Presidency. He can then talk about his plans for the future.
I am also interested in hearing if the Government is prepared to promote the use of the Irish language during the Presidency. There appears to be a certain reluctance to include it on the agenda. Is the Minister aware that Irish people who apply for EU jobs for which more than one language is required cannot count Irish as one of those languages? A similar restriction applies to 70 million others throughout the Union who speak what are now termed "lesser used languages". This is a matter of concern as Irish citizens are being discriminated against when it comes to job opportunities.
Does the Minister intend to seek official status for the Irish language in the context of the Intergovernmental Conference arising from the Maastricht Treaty? Does he realise and accept that this status would give Irish speakers access to the work and travel opportunities currently enjoyed by bilingualists from all other EU countries? As I am sure he is aware, over 500 jobs for highly qualified bilingualists could be created overnight in Brussels and elsewhere at no cost to the Exchequer if this policy was pursued. Will he agree that such recognition would consolidate the efforts of many, North and South, to create a truly bilingual society? As I am sure he is also aware, we are missing out on the much needed resources that would be available if the Irish language had such status.
I will try to answer as briefly and succinctly as I can the three points raised by the Deputy. On the first point I refer her to my comprehensive reply to the editorial in The Irish Times in which the words “rhetoric” and “reality” were used.
More rhetoric.
I do not want to be provoked into giving too many embarrassing facts. When I became Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, the provision for the Arts Council was £10.1 million. It is now £18.4 million, an increase of more than 80 per cent. The editorial referred to the gap between that £18.4 million and the £26 million required for the full plan and I described it as saying "we want it all and we want it now". I do not wish to delay on the issues of rhetoric or reality, but in the brief period when I was out of Government — between the Fianna Fáil-Labour Government and the present one — the provision for the Arts Council was decreased. In the draft Estimates my acting successor, Deputy Ahern, proposed a cut in the provision for the council.
The Minister is wasting time. I asked six supplementary questions.
He is giving the facts.
Let us hear the reply.
I restored that when I returned to office.
I asked six supplementary questions but received answers to none of them.
I will answer them all with great pleasure. If the Deputy is prepared to go down the narrow lane of cheap swipes she should be prepared to accept the reaction.
The Minister should take up the matter with The Irish Times.
The Deputy should read my reply and not waste the time of the House. She should allow us move on to deal with the other matters raised.
I will use every opportunity available to me to advance the status of the Irish language. The number of jobs to which the Deputy refers is interesting. I will speak in plain language. The pass was sold in the Treaty negotiations on Irish accession to the Community. That is the position I inherited. Every opportunity will be taken at the meetings between 1 July 1996 and 1 January 1997 to ensure the Irish language is given the recognition and status it deserves. Improving the status of the Irish language from a recognised to a working language will be extremely difficult, but in the context of the Intergovernmental Conference every opportunity will be used to regain any ground lost at the time of accession. I have had discussions on this matter with the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
In regard to co-ordinating practical work during the Presidency, Ireland will play a leading role on a number of important initiatives, such as Media II, the concluding Ariane and transfrontier directives. The work of my Department and the council will be co-ordinated with the overall work of other Ministers participating in the Irish Presidency.
Will the Minister at least give a guarantee that he will seek official language status for Irish?
I cannot give that guarantee. The pass was sold when we could have secured that guarantee.
There is still an opportunity to do that.
I will do my best during the Irish Presidency to mitigate the damage done then and to advance the use of Irish as far as possible. I will use every opportunity to seek the maximum advantage. It is my wish that Irish be used as a working language and I will seek to advance that aim in the context of the Intergovernmental Conference.
I hope the Minister does not use that pass as an excuse and that he will take appropriate action.