I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together.
No separate provision has been made in the 2005 Estimates for the Department of Foreign Affairs for the cost of implementing the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003.
The Department of Foreign Affairs provides a service through Irish to members of the public who wish to conduct their business with the Department through Irish. Training courses in Irish are provided for all staff wishing to improve their Irish language proficiency levels. Most of the courses are provided by Gaeleagras and costs are, therefore, met by the Department of Finance. The amounts expended by the Department on the provision of other Irish language training during the past five years were:
Year
|
Amount €
|
2000
|
88.90
|
2001
|
3,363.12
|
2002
|
2,643.00
|
2003
|
3,308.36
|
2004
|
4,781.11
|
Total:
|
14,184.49
|
As part of its Irish language service to customers, the Department has published combined Irish-English versions of a number of documents. These include our Strategy Statement, 2003-2005 and our new customer charter. In such cases, it is not possible to separate Irish and English language production costs, apart from expenditure on translation services. The amounts expended on Irish language translation services over the past five years were as follows: