Section 11 of the Official Languages Act 2003 provides that public bodies have a duty to prepare a statutory scheme detailing the services they will provide through the medium of Irish, English and bilingually, and the measures to be adopted to ensure that any service not currently provided by the body through the medium of the Irish language will be so provided.
Section 12 provides that guidelines will be prepared to assist public bodies in the preparation of those schemes.
Guidelines are currently being drafted by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, and have not yet been finalised. Statutory schemes will be prepared by each public body funded by my Department only after the guidelines have been published, and the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has been in direct communication with the heads of those public bodies in the matter.
Once the guidelines have been published and statutory schemes have been prepared, it will be possible to more accurately estimate the impact and cost implications of the Official Languages Act 2003 on the public bodies funded by my Department.