Mr. David Gordon:

Just to clarify, we do issue a form to all new staff members who comes in asking about their qualifications. One of the questions is about their level of Irish, whether it is high, medium, or low, and if they would be prepared to provide a service in Irish. I just went back over the last 50 applications since 2017 and 15% said they had a high level, 40% a medium level, 37% a low level and 8% had none.

However, out of that number only six people were willing to provide services through Irish, four of whom were psychologists and two inspectors. None of the new administrative staff in that area was prepared to use Irish, even though they had Irish at varying levels from good to moderate to weak. These figures show that regardless of whether the number of Irish speakers increases or decreases, it is a question of whether people are willing to use the language. One of the difficulties is that people do not want to be pigeon-holed when they come into a Department. They do not want to be restricted to working in only one area. I am not saying that is correct, but that seems to be the position. That is just an example of the type of figures since 2017.