25 Feb 2019, 10:03
The Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands will meet on Tuesday when it hears from the Health Service Executive on the topic of Bilingual Services.
Speaking in advance of the meeting, Committee Chair, Catherine Connolly TD, said, “The Committee welcomes the opportunity to engage with the Health Service Executive, on the provision of services through Irish.”
There is an onus on each public sector body to provide Irish citizens with the choice of conducting their business with that public body through the medium of the official language of their choice, Irish or English.
Deputy Connolly added: “Members will be particularly interested to hear how the organisation plans to promote greater use of the Irish language.”
It is important that this responsibility is met in a meaningful way and that persons whose first language is Irish (Gaeltacht areas) or whose language of choice is Irish (the Irish speaking community across Ireland) are not disadvantaged in the service they receive because they opt to conduct their business in the first language of the State.
It is also important they are not dissuaded from seeking such a service due to the fact that it isof a minimal standard, it is difficult or almost impossible to access, and it leads to the provision of a lesser service than if that service were sought through the medium of English.
Deputy Connolly concluded: “The opportunity to engage and ask questions of the Health Service Executive regarding their commitment toBilingual Services, and an insight into objectives and policies is something we very much welcome.”
The meeting will start at 4pm in Committee Room 4, Leinster House.
Committee proceedings can be viewed live here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/cr4-live/