Brian O'Shea
Question:183 Mr. O'Shea asked the Taoiseach the amount of money his Department has spent on the Irish language in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15241/03]
Written Answers. - Departmental Expenditure.
Brian O'Shea
Question:184 Mr. O'Shea asked the Taoiseach his Department's objective in relation to its expenditure on the Irish language; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15242/03]
Brian O'Shea
Question:185 Mr. O'Shea asked the Taoiseach the monitoring system his Department has in place in regard to its objective in relation to the Irish language; the expenditure in achieving that objective; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15243/03]
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 183 to 185, inclusive, together.
My Department's customer action plan 2001-04 gives a commitment to providing services through Irish to those who require such service and gives practical expression to the Government's commitment to deliver a quality service to Irish speakers made in Delivering Better Government. This has been reinforced by the proposed Official Languages Equality Bill 2002 being brought forward by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. My Department also complies with the recommended guidelines for public sector organisations 1999 in relation to providing web services on a basis which gives equal recognition to both the Irish and English languages. The Department's commitments to improve the level of service through Irish include: answering correspondence in the language in which it is written; making major publications issued since 1998 available bilingually; facilitating visitors and telephone callers, where possible, to conduct business through Irish; ensuring signage throughout the Department is bilingual; promoting and funding Irish language courses for staff; and ensuring that a record of staff with Irish language abilities is recorded on the Department's intranet.
The Irish language training needs of staff in the Department of the Taoiseach are predominantly met by the centre for management and organisation development, CMOD, which provides Irish courses for the public service – Gaeleagras na Seirbhíse Poiblí costs are met from the central budget. A number of staff have participated in a Gaeleagras scholarship scheme. In addition, a new diploma course in applied Irish – Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach – to be run by the Department of Modern Irish UCD from September –€700 per person – is being offered to staff. It is envisaged that 100% of these fees will be refunded to staff this year.
The Department's integrated human resource strategy and staff development plan commits to considering any additional measures to ensure that the Department fully meets its obligations with regard to provision of services in the official languages. The change management unit was established in my Department in 2001. The unit ensures that all publications for which it is responsible are available in Irish and English and are published on the Department's website. My Department's strategy statement 2003 to 2005 and the 2002 annual report will be published shortly. Both documents will be available in Irish and English. Costs have not yet been determined.
The following table shows the departmental publications translated into Irish and their costs.
|
Publications (translated into Irish) |
Cost |
|
The Department's Strategy Statement to 31 December 2003 |
€1,291 |
|
Two Departmental Annual Reports |
€4,934 |
|
Ireland and the European Union: Identifying Priorities and Pursuing Goals (2002) |
€2,240(Arrangements are currently being made for the translation of the new edition of this publication, costs for which have not yet been determined.) |
|
eWeb publication |
€1,401 |
|
Telecommunications Working Group Report |
€1,870.51 |
|
Grangegorman Working Group Report |
€482.70 |
|
The Green Paper on Basic Income (September 2002) |
€2,244 |
|
The Customer Action Plan 2001-4. |
€2,967 |
|
Bilingual reprint of the National Flag booklet in May 2001 |
€2,755 (approx). |
|
Cabinet Handbook (produced in 2001) |
€14,000 |
|
Translation and printing of S.I. 522 of 2002 (British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Act 2002 (Commencement) Order |
€155.16 |
|
1997 & 1998 – Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust Act – Advertisements in Irish inviting applications |
€12,143.77 |
|
1998 – Good Friday Agreement – translation, printing and distribution of Irish language version |
€49,885.47 |
The following figures relate to expenditure by the public service modernisation section on the Irish language over the last five years and comprise payments for the translation and production of departmental publications.
|
Year |
€ |
|
1999 |
145 |
|
2000 |
15,570 |
|
2001 |
59,371 |
|
2002 |
22,993 |
|
2003 |
7,240 |
|
Total |
105,319 |
The Government secretariat arranges for Government notifications to be placed through Irish inIris Oifigiúil. Expenditure incurred in placing such notifications for the years 1998 to 2002 is set down as follows:
|
Year |
€ |
|
1998 |
2,981 |
|
1999 |
1,719 |
|
2000 |
3,909 |
|
2001 |
2,495 |
|
2002 |
4,958 |
|
Total |
16,062 |
The Northern Ireland division arranged for the advertisement in Irish inIris Oifigiuil of the British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Act 2002 (Commencement) Order in 2002 at a cost of €17.14 and of the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 (Commencement) Order 1999, which cost €17.14. Irish translation costs for static information on my Department's website were €4,684. Translation costs of the information society policy section of the website were €176.
In June 2000, the chairman of An Comhchoiste um Oidhreacht agus an Ghaeilge – Joint Committee on Heritage and Irish Language – wrote to me and asked if I would host a State reception to celebrate the Irish language and its devotees. The reception to celebrate "Oiche Na Gaeilge" took place in the State apartments on 22 February 2001, at a cost of €29,254.