Vol. 500 No. 2
113 Mr. O'Shea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount of money her Department has directly or indirectly spent on the use and promotion of the Irish language in each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3849/99]
Over the last five years my Department has contributed £2,770 towards the cost of the attendance of officers of the Department on Gaeltacht scholarships. The breakdown for each year is as follows: 1994-£660, 1995-£720, 1996-£480, 1997-£560, 1998-£350. There would also have been an associated staffing cost in respect of these officers.
A sum of £957 was expended in 1997 on printing and publishing in the Irish language. Since August 1998, the Department has had a policy of publishing the majority of its advertisements both in Irish and English and to date advertisements in the Irish language have cost £6,495. Corresponding data for earlier years is not shown separately in the Department's records.
As part of its continuing drive to improve customer service, an examination of all of the documentation produced by the Department is ongoing with a view to improving the availability of Irish language versions where appropriate and cost effective.
