Civil Service Language Centre

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 June 2012

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Questions (175)

Finian McGrath

Question:

245 Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current status of the Civil Service Language Centre; the staffing and budget given to the Civil Service Language Centre for each of the past four years; the reason it has cut back the number and range of language courses it is offering in particular Chinese and Russian; if he will outline his strategic vision for increasing the capacity of the Civil Service to successfully engage internationally using such languages as Chinese, Russian and Portuguese; the way he sees the Civil Service Language Centre fitting into this strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30751/12]

Written answers

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Brendan Howlin)

The strategic future direction of the Civil Service Language Centre (CSLC) is the subject of deliberations within my Department at present in consultation with the relevant interested parties. The context to this deliberative process is a reduction in the funding available for foreign language teaching and the ongoing requirement to ensure greater cost effectiveness in the delivery of staff in-service training of this nature. The foreign languages traditionally delivered by the CSLC to civil servants (including members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces) include modern European languages (French, German, Spanish Italian) and Irish Sign Language. Bespoke language training has also been provided to staff on the basis of the particular requirements of their employing organisation. Costs associated with the provision of this service, apart from administrative and incidental costs, derive from the salaries paid to the cohort of part-time teachers delivering the training programmes. Details for the period requested are as follows:

Year	Amount €
2009	€262,498.07
2010	€265,375.57
2011	€188,632.26
2012 to date	€103,478.86