Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 June 2014
102. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the percentage and number of total employees of the civil and public service who are competent in and use the Irish language in their workplace; the proposed percentage to be reached within the next five to ten years; the recruitment strategy that will be used to achieve this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26250/14]
View answerThe number of employees in the civil and public service that are competent and use the Irish language in their workplace is a matter for each individual Department and public sector organisation. As regards my own Department, in the region of sixty five staff members currently provide services to the public through the medium of Irish on a regular basis. In addition, a significant number of staff in my Department have varying levels of competence in Irish, which they may use in their work from time to time. This would mainly extend to an ability to comprehend verbal or written queries and to respond to verbal queries. The Deputy should also be aware that, following a review of the Official Languages Act 2003, my Department recently published the heads of the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill 2014. It is proposed to include a new provision under section 13 of the Bill requiring public bodies to specify the posts that require an Irish language competency in their language schemes. This amendment reflects a decision by Government to replace the policy of awarding bonus marks for Irish language proficiency in civil service recruitment and promotion competitions with a competency-based system whereby specified posts will have an Irish language proficiency requirement.
In addition, as a result of the Government decision, the workforce plans of Departments will specify the posts/areas of work which require functional bilinguals. Having regard to the implementation of the Gaeltacht Act 2012, Departments will be asked to pay particular attention to posts located in, or serving, Gaeltacht areas. This process will be central to ensuring that future recruitment and inter-departmental promotion competitions run by the Public Appointments Service make sufficient provision for appointments to posts requiring functional bilinguals. In the case of Departmental recruitment and promotion competitions, an assessment will be made of the requirement for functional bilinguals and, where necessary and appropriate, a sub-panel of functional bilinguals will be put in place.
It had been intended to pilot the new arrangements in the upcoming Executive Officer (EO) recruitment competition. However, I am informed by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, that priority is now being given to a Clerical Officer (CO) competition and that the proposed EO competition will not take place until later in the year. Accordingly, it has been decided that the new arrangements will be piloted in the CO competition, which will be announced in the coming weeks. The new arrangements provide for a sub-panel of functional bilinguals comprising up to 6% of the overall CO panel and will be revised as necessary in the context of experience and progress in achieving the Government's objectives.
