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Irish Language Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 July 2013

Thursday, 11 July 2013

Questions (143)

Andrew Doyle

Question:

143. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the position regarding whether written correspondence, as the only form of complaints procedure between an individual and an Irish registered company mainly based in Ireland but operating across member states may only return complaints in English as opposed to Irish, the language the complaint was initially made in; if his attention has been drawn to other member states' position regarding same, such as in Spain, where large firms operating in member states must communicate back in Spanish, the national language, if written to in Spanish, as required by law; if he intends to look at implementing similar measures in Ireland for the Irish language; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34073/13]

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Written answers

Section 9(2) of the Official Languages Act 2003 provides that public bodies have a duty to reply to communications, in writing or by electronic mail, in the official language in which the communication was received, namely Irish or English. The Deputy will understand that this provision applies only to public bodies listed in the First Schedule of the Act. The question of how other public bodies and Irish registered companies, outside the scope of the Act, deal with written communications from the public is a matter for the bodies and companies concerned. I can inform the Deputy, however, that the method of listing public bodies under the Official Languages Act is being examined in the context of amending legislation which I propose to bring forward, arising from the review of the Act. In relation to institutions of the European Union, Article 41(4) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides that every person may write to the institutions of the European Union in one of the languages of the Treaties and must receive an answer in the same language.

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