Irish Language Committee resumes hearings on Official Languages (Amendment) Bill 2017

Committee Chair Catherine Connolly said: “The Committee is currently carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme and Draft Heads of the Official Languages Bill which will amend the Official Languages Act 2003. Tomorrow we will continue our consideration of the draft legislation when we will meet with officials from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. It is an opportunity for the Committee to provide its input into drafting a strong and effective language bill to promote and protect the Irish language and benefit Gaeltacht communities.

The committee believes that the purpose of this Bill must be to provide a realistic choice to citizens as to the official language they wish to engage in when interacting with the State and its public institutions and that any service that is provided by a public body should be in both official languages of the State. This objective is that every public body will, eventually, provide all its services to the public and to third parties in both official languages of the State. The provision of these services must be of an equal standard, and must be equally accessible and effective, regardless of which official language they are provided through.”

This meeting will take place at 6pm on Tuesday, 17 April 2018 in Committee Room 4, Leinster House. Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.