Mr. Andrew Patterson:

If Irish is a requirement of a job, people who are not proficient in Irish should not even be considered for the job. If there was a requirement to increase the number of people who are proficient in the Irish language in a Department, that would be a valid criterion and the CPSA would have no issue.

If a skills shortcoming is identified within the Department and Irish is set as a basic requirement, the Commission on Public Service Appointments, CPSA, would be happy for the Department to go further than the Coimisinéir Teanga's recommendation and exclude people who do not have that proficiency from further stages of the appointment process.

When I referred to the placement of emphasis on the Irish language I was expressing a concern on behalf of the commission that if Irish, although not an absolute requirement for the role, is taken into account at all the different stages in the appointment process - and there can be a pre-selection test, a short-listing and a final interview or a pre-selection test, a preliminary interview and a final interview - there is a risk that the final order of merit will be skewed against those who are, perhaps, stronger in all the other areas identified as important for the role.