Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 April 2013
24. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his views on the review of the Official Languages Act; if he will be publishing the submissions to the Act and arrange to have those submissions discussed; and if he will provide a timescale for the publishing of these submissions and the continuation of the review. [19281/13]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware from the Government's Legislation Programme that it is intended to publish a Bill this year which will include statutory amendments arising from the review of the Official Languages Act 2003. Preparatory work in this regard is currently under way in my Department and I hope to bring the relevant draft Heads of Bill to Government before the summer recess. With regard to the public consultation process, my Department received a total of 1,446 survey responses and 262 submissions during the public consultation process. Analysis of this material has been completed and it is intended to publish the results when the draft Heads of the Bill are being published.
