Vol. 515 No. 3
296 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason the recent advertisement for foreign language teaching for gardaí included French and German and did not include Spanish in view of the fact Spaniards are more numerous among visitors whom the gardaí would seek to assist. [6142/00]
I have been informed by the Garda authorities that the French and German languages have been included for European language training purposes on the curriculum for student gardaí since 1993 to assist them in dealing with people who speak these languages. The language training provided at the Garda college also requires that students already have the basis of the language being taught, that is, leaving certificate level. When European languages were added to the student Garda curriculum in 1993, approximately 75% of second-level school leavers had studied French to leaving certificate level and 20% had studied German to the same level. These percentages were also reflected in the students joining the Garda Síochána. The number of students commencing Garda training with a background in Spanish was, and still is, negligible. However, to redress this imbalance, classes are provided by the Civil Service language training centre for up to 60 gardaí a year in European languages, including Spanish, Italian and Russian. Up to 15 gardaí per year undergo the Spanish classes.
The recently approved review of student Garda education training programme report acknowledges that consideration should be given in the future to extending the European language programme at the Garda college to include Spanish and Italian. This will become more feasible if a higher percentage of students who commence training have a foundation in these languages.
