Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 January 2014
184. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the estimated number and percentage of civil servants who are competent to carry out their duties through the medium of Irish and English in his Department; his views on whether this number is adequate; his plans to increase this number and percentage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2694/14]
View answerI wish to inform the Deputy that some 60 staff of my Department are currently engaged in the provision of services or development of policy through the medium of Irish. We also have Irish speakers across a number of divisions including the key functions in the Department such as Finance Unit, Personnel, Corporate Services and Press Office. Overall, there are approximately 90 staff working in my Department who have the necessary competence to perform their duties through the medium of Irish and English. This equates to 15% of my Department's staff.
My Department is committed to providing quality services in Irish to its customers and I am satisfied it is currently doing so. Detailed information about the provision of services by my Department is provided in its Irish Language Scheme which was published in 2012 and covers the period 2012 -2015. This scheme is available on my Department's web-site at the following link: http://www.ahg.gov.ie/en/AboutUs/LanguageScheme/
My Department has undertaken a range of proactive measures to ensure that it can continue to provide quality customer service in Irish into the future. For example, extensive Irish language training was provided in 2013 in conjunction with Gaelchultúr and will be provided to further staff in 2014 with the aim of increasing levels of proficiency in the Irish language across all divisions.
