Ms Deirdre Shanley:

The Department has identified more than 75 locations where we can provide a service through Irish, but if there is not an Irish-speaking member of staff available in a particular office at a particular point in time, the Department will always make arrangements to take the customer's details and an Irish-speaking member of staff will call that customer back. Many of our Intreo centres throughout the country have members of staff who are willing to provide that face-to-face service through Irish, not just the centres in Gaeltacht areas. Equally, our centralised offices that deal with such schemes as our pension schemes or disability schemes have identified staff members who are available to provide services through Irish. People should be able to access services by phoning or contacting any of those offices by email.