Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2004
62 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Departments have spent almost €300,000 on Irish language classes for civil servants in order to comply with requirements in the Official Languages Act 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33244/04]
View answerDepartments have been funding Irish language training for civil servants for very many years prior to the enactment of the Official Languages Act 2003. Such training helps to ensure that that the public sector is in a position to meet the rights of Irish speakers to avail of public services in the language of their choice. The figure quoted is modest in the context of the overall administrative budgets of Departments.
