Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 April 2021
181. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the way in which his Department and agencies under his remit facilitate persons wishing to engage with their services through the Irish language; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21901/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department endeavours to fully facilitate anyone wishing to engage with our services in Irish, ensuring that our obligations under the Official Languages Act and our commitments under our own current Irish Language Scheme are fully met.
This Scheme has been formulated with the intention of ensuring that all relevant obligations under the Official Languages Act by the Department will be fully addressed on an incremental basis, through this and future schemes. Any person who communicates with us through Irish will receive a response in Irish. Key corporate and policy publications, consultations, and press releases are published bilingually. Anyone who wishes to speak to a member of staff in Irish can do so, and the Department has a dedicated Irish Language Officer to ensure implementation of our Language Scheme and the ongoing and appropriate provision of Irish Language services in the Department. The Department has recently completed our website migration to the gov.ie platform, necessitating a review of all web content, including policy and service information. We are currently in the process of having all of our online services translated, according to our commitments under our Irish Language Scheme. The provision of Irish Language services in our agencies is a matter for those organisations separately, and does not fall under the provisions of our own Departmental Irish Language Scheme.
