The provision of a quality customer service in Irish has been a priority of my Department for many years. A range of supports have been made available to staff to facilitate the provision of services through Irish to the Department's customers, including training in spoken and written Irish. The overall objective of these training supports is to equip front line staff with the necessary skills and confidence to deliver a quality customer service through Irish by phone, letter and in person. The following outlines the expenditure on training and number of participants in the period 2009 to 2010:
Irish Language Training
|
Expenditure
|
Attendees
|
|
€
|
|
2009
|
9,932
|
49
|
2010
|
6,777
|
36
|
Total
|
16,709
|
85
|
I would like to assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to fulfil its obligations under the Official Languages Act.