Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Feb 1999

Vol. 500 No. 2

Written Answers. - Irish Language Promotion.

Brian O'Shea

Question:

164 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the amount of money his Department has directly or indirectly spent on the use and promotion of the Irish language in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3857/99]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey)

My Department oversees and funds the operation of a steering group – An Grúpa Stiúrtha faoin Ghaeilge sa tSeirbhís Rialtais Áitiúil – to promote the use of Irish in the local government service. The only other readily identifiable expenditure is on Irish-language training for Department staff, although it should be noted that the bulk of the cost in this regard is borne by Gaeleagras na Státseirbhíse, Department of Finance. The table below sets out the total amount of money spent on these two items in each of the past five years.

The Deputy will be aware that my Department provides funding to local authorities to carry out a wide range of functions and this expenditure indirectly supports the use of Irish, for example, bilingual signalisation, publications, etc. It would not, however, be feasible to isolate the amount spent on the use or promotion of the Irish language from these funds.

Finally, my Department incurs substantial ongoing translation, advertising, and publishing costs due to its policy of publishing documents bilingually, where possible, and of advertising in the Irish language media. However, a total for the amount of money spent on this per year is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work.

Table

Expenditure on Grúpa Stiúrtha faoin Ghaeilge sa tSeirbhís Rialtais Áitiúil and on Departmental training

Year	Tota1
1994	£11,986.86
1995	£13,283.44
1996	£15,548.18
1997	£9,547.82
1998	£7,665.93
Overall total	£58,032.23