Ms Deirdre Shanley:

There are a range of ways that the Department staff can avail of formal training through Irish. The staff development unit has a range of services that are available to staff, including refund of fees, if they wish to undertake Irish training outside of office time, but they are also encouraged to undertake training during office hours.

There is a new arrangement also for professional Irish language training for civil servants. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform recruited professional Irish language training under the OneLearning platform, and that service has been contracted to Gaelchultúr to provide that service. There are two courses available: intermediate and advanced. The intermediate course is for staff who are at a basic level in Irish and who need to acquire a greater level of proficiency. The advanced course is for people who have a higher level of Irish and who want to improve that further. That is on the national qualifications framework.