Mr. Rob O'Toole:

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for his questions. This is very much in line with some of the parliamentary questions we have received earlier, such as the debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth.

I hope to answer most of the Deputy Ó Cuív’s questions and will answer them in order. In reference to the purpose of the Irish language panels, the first key point is about ensuring that we meet the demand for Irish language posts in the civil service. The Deputy pointed out, based on the report from An Coimisinéir Teanga, that circa 0.4% of roles require Irish at the moment. We believe – I am sure Dr. Mac Cormaic while come in on this point later – that as the Bill comes to fruition there will be more Irish language posts available across both the public and civil services. We also said that we hire about 1% of people on the Irish language side, therefore, we more than meet the current demand.

To answer the Deputy’s first question, he is correct that the CO and EO grades are where most of the roles are. That typically accounts for nearly 50% of civil service positions. In terms of the opportunities, it is not just about the roles that are available. I would ask that we consider the level of applications. On a like-for-like basis on the CO panels, English-bilingual versus the Irish-only, there is about a 1:93 difference in the applications. We believe that by offering people the opportunity to apply for both, aids people who have the Irish language.

In terms of the next question about where one is most likely to get promoted out of, that is both a-----