Mr. Stephen McGrath:

The research was conducted with Irish language speakers in Donegal, Galway and Kerry. We did some research back in 2007 and last year we updated it to see whether there was any difference between demand in 2007 and demand in 2018. The survey was done by Ipsos MRBI. Approximately three quarters of those interviewed had used a health service in Irish. Approximately 73% said their preference would be to have service through Irish. We got some good information about what people wanted in these areas and about the kind of experiences they were having. We will enhance that. Our digital office is doing a digital survey of all services in the HSE, which is to start this year. We will be putting a couple of questions into that in terms of the number of staff each service has who are fluent in Irish and the number of staff who can deliver a service through Irish.

When we get the results of that survey we will have a better picture of where the services are being delivered around the country in Irish and where are the gaps.