Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh na hionadaithe ón Roinn. Tá lúcháir an domhain orm deis a bheith agam an t-ábhar seo a phlé leis an Roinn Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Mara toisc go bhfuil go leor plé idir an Roinn agus na feirmeoirí agus na hiascairí. Is dóigh liom go bhfuil níos mó plé aici leis na feirmeoirí. An bhfuil aon fhigiúirí ar an éileamh ón phobal, ar fud na tíre agus sna Gaeltachtaí, ar sheirbhísí trí Ghaeilge ón Roinn? Dúradh sa chur i láthair gur ceist acmhainní é seo agus go gcuireann soláthar seirbhísí trí mheán na Gaeilge srian ar acmhainní na Roinne. Is féidir é sin a chasadh thart agus a rá gur ceist earcaíochta é. Má tá an Roinn dáiríre faoi sheirbhís a chur ar fáil trí mheán na Gaeilge, ní ceist acmhainní ach ceist earcaíochta atá ann. Ní bheadh breis costais ar an Roinn dá n-earcódh sí daoine le Gaeilge mar bheadh na hoifigigh sin in ann an tseirbhís a chur ar fáil ar an ráta pá céanna. An míneoidh na hionadaithe é sin?

Ag leanúint ón phointe sin, cad iad na hiarrachtaí atá ar bun ag an Roinn le daoine a bhfuil cumas sa Ghaeilge acu a earcú ag gach grád, ach go háirithe ag na leibhéil a bhíonn ag plé leis na feirmeoirí? Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil seirbhís trí mheán na Gaeilge ar fáil i nDún na nGall, mo chontae féin, má tá feirmeoirí ag iarraidh úsáid a bhaint as an tseirbhís sin, ach níl mé cinnte go bhfuil an duine sin lonnaithe sa district office in Raphoe. An dtiocfadh liom soiléiriú a fháil air sin? Tuigim go bhfuil an duine sin lonnaithe i gcontae nach bhfuil ceangailte le ceantar Gaeltachta. Ba mhaith liom soiléiriú air sin fosta.

The first issue we have is recruitment. Our big problem with that is that we recruit specialised people with certain skills and to the extent that they have Irish is dependent a little bit on the outside of that because we cannot recruit somebody who has Irish and then train them into a specialised area such as a vet or an inspector. It is something that we look for but we do not necessarily have the choice. If we have a vacancy, we have to fill it, and if the appropriate people do not have Irish, it is unfortunate but the priority has to be to get the job done, to get the inspections done and to get the payments made. In the Gaeltacht areas, particularly in two fishery harbours, Irish is a requirement. We would not necessarily recruit somebody but we still have to keep the harbours open if it came down to not having somebody. In those areas we tend to be able to attract somebody.

It is not that we are against it. As we discovered in our Irish language section, we recruited an individual who was then attracted by the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is to be lauded, they are moving ahead and that is fine, but we could not actually get somebody who had Irish at that level. We even looked into getting somebody at a higher level from another Public Appointments Service recruitment campaign that would have been at administrative officer level, and we could not attract one of them to move to the office in Port Laoise. It is not that we are not trying or that we do not want it, it is just that we are restricted by what is available to us. We would certainly be interested in ways around that but the priority is having somebody with the skills to do the job and then, unfortunately, the Irish is desirable but not essential in the same way. That is not in any way to denigrate what this committee is about, but it is a bigger problem than just what we can do in the Department. However, if we can do something, we are certainly interested in doing it.

I cannot speak about Raphoe. Maybe one of my colleagues can address it.