Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is brilliant. I thank Dr. Kenny. I agree with what he said about training.

I understand the importance of the Irish language in the function of the courts system and being able to provide a space for people to have hearings in Irish. I accept that we need to protect it, but I also wonder about the knock-on effect it has on increasing diversity in and of itself. We talk about having it as a criterion, but we also talk about increasing diversity in other key areas such as gender, ethnic and social diversity, and I wonder how we reconcile those two issues. Do the witnesses think we should create a quota of how many members of the Judiciary have proficiency in Irish rather than ending up in a space where we say that everybody must have proficiency in Irish? We see from other sectors where we are fighting to have diversity, such as the teaching profession and the Garda, that even in order to be able to study in the area, having a proficiency in Irish could reduce diversity before anyone even has the opportunity to apply to the Bar, for example. Sometimes the situation has already been determined much earlier. Could Dr. Cahillane comment on that?