My Department has over 50 members of staff on a panel of officials who are available to deal with queries in Irish from members of the public. This number has been more than adequate to date to meet the demand for such services - despite its broad range of functional areas. Recent work in the context of my Department developing a workforce planning framework has confirmed that that number is adequate.
The Department also has a full-time Irish translator, who is principally engaged in the translation of Rules of Court to Irish.
Since 2006, with the commencement of its inaugural Irish Language Scheme, my Department has run 23 in-house Irish courses, both written and oral, tailored for members of staff. These courses were run, concurrently in some cases, by Gaeleagras, Gaelchultúr and the IPA, in the Department’s offices in both Dublin and Killarney. In addition, my Department also supports members of staff who wish to do Irish courses outside of the Department.