Translation Services Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 September 2013

Thursday, 26 September 2013

Questions (105)

Noel Coonan

Question:

105. Deputy Noel Coonan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will authorise secondary school pupils to translate public documents from English to Irish in view of the stream of revenue this would generate for schools and considering the commitment given in the Official Languages Act 2003 to publish official documents in both official languages; if this initiative will be included as part of the student's assessment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40292/13]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The Curriculum is devised to place the needs of our students at the core of what we do and to ensure they have the best possible learning experiences and outcomes that are age appropriate. I don't consider this suggestion appropriate for second level students. Of course the students may consider the content of some of these documents but as they are official documents they require extremely sophisticated translation by professional translators.