In relation to issues in general and to the court scene, there is an existing constitutional right in relation to the Irish language and there have been court rulings in this regard. Therefore, in large measure, some of these rights already exist in law for anyone who wishes to exercise them. In those circumstances, I do not believe that costs will be a major problem. There will be some minor costs in setting up a specific office to monitor the Bill, but I imagine its implementation will much more relate to the efficient organising of existing resources rather than additional resources.
I have never understood why anyone would think that the appointment of people who are both Irish and English speakers to provide services to, for example, Gaeltacht areas would be any more expensive than the appointment of people who are English speakers only. This is more about planning and organisation than about costs. It is about targeting resources and using technology to make sure those resources are targeted where they are needed to provide the necessary services. That is what these plans are about. My Department will not receive any additional allocation to its administration budget to administer services even though it provides much more bilingual services than most Departments.
