Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 May 2020
1099. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her views on the number of Béarlachas words entering the Irish language even though Irish words and expressions already exist in these cases; her plans to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7760/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is working with various institutions to develop a range of Irish language terminology and lexicography projects.
Funding continues to be provided for the successful Irish/EU terminology project LEX (GA IATE), which is now in its 11th year. The project, run in collaboration with Dublin City University, produces terminology in the Irish language for inclusion in the European Union’s multilingual terminology database, IATE. The project has so far yielded 65,592 Irish IATE entries. Irish is in second place, just behind Polish, in terms of the number of IATE entries for the ‘new’ post-2004 official languages. Funding is currently in place for this project until the end of 2021.
The purpose of producing a dictionary is to mirror the vernacular and this is reflected in Foras na Gaeilge's approach to its lexicographical work, including the New English Irish Dictionary. It is natural in any language for words from other languages to enter its lexicography and, while there are those who may wish use native words at all times, the nature of sociolinguistics is complex and evolving for all languages. Notwithstanding this, Foras na Gaeilge has a Terminology Committee which aims to develop, approve and make available standard authoritative Irish language terminology to support Irish as a medium of communication in a modern society. The National Terminology Database for Irish can be accessed at https://www.tearma.ie/.
