Mr. David Cagney:

I will go back to Deputy Connolly's point. If we have given the impression that we think this 1% is good then I want to point out that we are not saying that and I apologise if that has come across. That is reflecting the demand in the system, as articulated to the Public Appointments Service, which does the recruitment. I am not making comments as to whether that is good, bad or indifferent. We are very keen to support the aspiration or legal obligation that would be set out in the legislation and we are fully committed to do that. I would not like the Deputy to interpret those statistics as something we are happy with. Perhaps it is down to the way I expressed them.

I will go back to Deputy Ó Cuív's question and it is much the same issue. We do not determine what the demand is within the system. That is a matter for individual Departments and offices. I am subject to correction on this but I understand that under the rules and regulations on the Irish language, the onus and obligation is on Departments and offices to identify those roles for which they believe there should be fluency in the language and to recruit for those roles. It would appear from the statistics we are seeing that there is a very low level of demand in those areas.