Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the amendment Deputy O'Callaghan mentioned that deals with Údarás na Gaeltachta working as an approved housing body, this is not just something we have dreamt up as a fix for a problem. We have met with representatives from Údarás na Gaeltachta in committee a number of times. In fairness, they recently announced that a pilot scheme is up and running and they are looking for expressions of interest for three plots of land to build housing in the Gaeltacht. Údarás na Gaeltachta was set up mainly to provide sites for factories, digital hubs and so on. The Gteic hubs are very welcome. However, without housing, communities will struggle. We need housing for the workers who have Irish and are living in and contributing to the area in which work is available because of the various businesses attracted into those areas. Údarás na Gaeltachta is responsible for the development of the Gaeltacht in many ways but it does not have the powers of the local authorities. There has been a campaign for it to get local authority status.

That would be convoluted, but that is again because of the frustration about the local authorities not addressing the issues in Gaeltacht areas. They were often forgotten about. While the Minister of State said we can do so much with local authorities, if we continue to depend on them without providing in legislation that they must look after the needs of Gaeltacht areas, we could struggle. The Gaeltacht areas in Ráth Cairn and Baile Ghib are a minuscule part of all the pressures Meath County Council deals with, so they do not feature as much as they should. They do not have the same protections. They do not have a voice because they are not big enough to elect a single councillor for the Gaeltacht region. Údarás na Gaeltachta elections were got rid of by an bord snip and we are still waiting for the legislation to reintroduce some part of those elections later this year.

If Údarás na Gaeltachta, which has shown it can be quite flexible, becomes an approved housing body, it would be one of the mechanisms under which surplus State land could be used, rather than giving it to the Land Development Agency, LDA. It is already held by Údarás na Gaeltachta which has moved to facilitate the local community. One of the big problems in the area, and in most Gaeltacht areas, is that they are environmentally delicate. There is also a need for the other infrastructure to be dealt with, including sewerage works by Uisce Éireann and such matters. Again, Údarás na Gaeltachta was willing to facilitate that in the past and to work with Uisce Éireann for it to provide wastewater treatment for factories, which would also be big enough to service the needs of the local community, but it was not forthcoming. Much better co-ordination between organisations is needed.

Irish Water has its priority lists and the Gaeltacht areas do not feature on them for development or future development at the level that is required. That is why a State body that mainly deals with protecting the community in the Gaeltacht by providing employment opportunities has now seen the dire need for housing for those living in the Gaeltacht. I fully endorse this amendment. I hope the pilots will work quickly so that other land can be used to facilitate Údarás na Gaeltachta doing the job that local authorities have not done in Gaeltacht regions for years. That could be land in the land bank of Údarás na Gaeltachta or, if necessary, the Government could give it theimprimaturto source land locally. The frustration is that, all of a sudden, another State body is doing what the local authority or an approved housing body should be doing.

Amendment No. 619 is about planning authorities requiring Irish only naming or that Irish would be more prominent in the case of bilingual signage for developments. Some councils, not only in the Gaeltacht areas, already implement the policy of having Irish language place names for new housing estates and that is welcome. It should be applied nationwide. It is not just to do with new estates, but also new streets, developments, towns and the like. In my area of Dublin 8, where a new development is replacing St. Michael's Estate, primacy is being given to ensuring the names are not a replication of the past. You could go back to the founding principles of the first President of the new State, Dubhghlas de hÍde. He wrote about the necessity to de-anglicise Ireland back in 1892 and we are still trying to do it. He said at the time, before partition and even before an céad Dáil, "I hope and trust that where it may be done without any great inconvenience a native Irish Government will be induced to provide for the restoration of our place-names on something like a rational basis". We still have a work to do. We still see estates popping up with names which do not seem to have any connection to the local area and they appear in English only. That habit needs to stop. My preference would be for signs to be in Irish only, but at the very least, the two languages should be on equal terms and the names should have connections with the areas they are in.

Amendment No. 1111 is about implementing the target of 20% recruitment. The Minister of State said this is already covered by the Official Languages Act, Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla. However, given that not all the provisions are implemented yet and that and Coiste Comhairleach that sets out how to achieve the 20% target for future recruitment to Departments has not produced its interim report, never mind its final report, it is important that all legislation that sets up new bodies reflect that there is a provision or requirement that 20% of future recruits be people who have a B2 level of competency. As was mentioned, that level is already set. My amendment No. 1137 was ruled out of order for some bizarre reason although it is the same. I do not know why it was ruled out of order due to a potential cost when it is already law. We will probably come back to that when we are dealing with the relevant section.