Irish Language.

Thursday, 25 November 2004

Questions (141, 142)

Brian O'Shea

Question:

139 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if any provision has been made in the 2005 Estimates for his Department for the cost of implementing the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003; the amount of any such provision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30793/04]

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Brian O'Shea

Question:

140 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money that has been spent in each of the past five years on the Irish language in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30807/04]

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Written answers

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

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:

Year	Amount €
2000	384.10
2001	1,819.53
2002	145.04
2003	17,556.00
2004	12,152.88
Total:	32,057.55

In the case of the recently-published separate Irish language version of the Development Co-operation Ireland Annual Report for 2003, the printing cost was €11,000.00. The Department of Foreign Affairs has responsibility for a Reconciliation Fund for North-South and Anglo-Irish co-operation. The grants listed below were made during the years 2000-2003 to Irish language organisations active in the area of cross-community and cross-border outreach and reconciliation. No award has been made to Irish language groups from the fund so far this year.

2000 Allocations.

	£
Naíscoil an Loiste Úir	30,000
Tír na nÓg i nGlinntí Aontroma	2,500
Craobh Cholm Cille — Droichead Project (Doire)	35,000
Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí	2,000
Naíscoil na Banna (Portadown)	30,000
Naíscoil Ard Eóin (Ardoyne)	25,000
POBAL (Bóthar na bhFál, Béal Feirste)	5,000

2001 Allocations.

	£
Iomairt Cholm Cille / The Columba Initiative	25,000
Naíscoil Bheann Mhadagáin	25,000
Club Óige Mhacaire Botháin (Belfast)	10,000

2002 Allocations.

	€
Gaeláras	100,000
Cairde Bunscoil Phobal Feirste	30,000

2003 Allocations.

	€
Cumann Cultúrtha Mhic Reachtain	25,000
Comhchoiste na Gaeilge Aontroim Thuaidh	5,000