4 Mar 2014, 10:18
Dinny McGinley TD, Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs, will be before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions to consider the 2012 Annual Report of An Coimisinéir Teanga.
4 March 2014
Former An Coimisinéir Teanga Seán Ó Cuirreáin outlined the findings of his 2012 report to the Committee in December. During the session, Mr Ó Cuirreáin announced that he was resigning his post as a result of what he perceived were the failures by Government in effectively implementing legislation and policy related to promoting the Irish language.
Chairman of the Committee Pádraig Mac Lochlainn says: \"During 2012, An Coimisinéir Teanga dealt with 756 cases of difficulties or problems accessing state services through Irish – the largest number of complaints from the public to the Office since its establishment. His annual report noted that ‘2012 was not a vintage year for the promotion of the Irish language in the public sector and for every one step forward there appeared to have been two steps backwards’.
“When presenting his Annual Report to the Committee in December 2013, Seán Ó Cuirreáin announced that he was tendering his resignation. As well as discussing the issues arising from the 2012 report, the Committee looks forward to engaging with Minister McGinley on some of the frustrations that prompted Mr Ó Cuirreáin’s resignation, including the lack of supports for increasing Irish language competency in the Civil Service.”
This meeting will take place on Wednesday 5 March, in Committee Room 4 Leinster House 2000 at 4 p.m. It is expected that a large part of the meeting will be conducted through Irish.
The meeting can be viewed live online via this link.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
Media enquiries to:
Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
Committee Membership
Deputies: Richard Boyd Barrett, Charles Flanagan, Noel Harrington, Michael Healy-Rae, Seamus Kirk, Michael Kitt, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Chair), Michael McCarthy, Helen McEntee, Michelle Mulherin, Derek Nolan (Vice-Chair), Patrick O’Donovan, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Jack Wall and Mick Wallace
Senators: Jimmy Harte, Tony Mulcahy, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh and Susan O’Keeffe