Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 November 2004
141 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism 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. [30794/04]
View answerNo specific provision has been made in my Department's 2005 Estimates to meet any costs arising from the implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003. As the Deputy will be aware from a previous reply on this matter earlier this year, my Department was already meeting the required standards of bilingual practice prior to the enactment of the Official Languages Act 2003 in areas such as signage and stationery in publications such as the Department's statement of strategy, annual report and customer charter, and in regard to the right to receive a reply to correspondence in the official language in which it was written. Therefore, the Act in these areas involves no extra costs for my Department.
My Department has recently been included in the first tranche of public bodies required to produce an Irish language scheme by March 2005, in accordance with section 11 of the Official Languages Act. The scheme, which will be on a three year renewable basis, will be agreed with the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív. It will be prepared in accordance with the guidelines recently issued by the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, under section 12 of the Act and will be based on an assessment of both the internal capability of the Department and the needs of the public the Department serves.
When the preparatory process is completed I will be in a position to say what, if any, additional costs may arise in the implementation of the Irish language scheme. I am, however, satisfied, given the Department's current policy approach to Irish language services and the fact that the scheme will be for a three year period commencing at the end of March 2005, that there will be sufficient funding within my Department's 2005 budget to meet any such costs.
142 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism 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. [30808/04]
View answerMy Department makes every effort to facilitate the public and staff who wish to use the Irish language. It is my Department's policy to make all key publications and leaflets available in both Irish and English and the Department's stationery is in bilingual form. It is departmental policy to place all advertisements in both languages. Furthermore, my Department has recently been included in the first tranche of public bodies required to produce an Irish language scheme by March 2005. In this regard, I refer the Deputy to my response to a question put down by him today.
No specific provision is made in my Department's budget for expenditure related to the Irish language as the use of Irish is treated as an integral part of the service provided by my Department. It is not therefore possible to quantify expenditure separately with any degree of accuracy.
