Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is an interview process. I would not call it a test but there is an interview process whereby, if somebody is selected who has Irish as a language, he or she will have to show he or she is proficient. I am sure there are people who put down that they are proficient in Irish when they may not be, but it is important that if someone says they are proficient in a language, particularly if they could potentially be sent to a Gaeltacht area, they do have the language they say they have. There will be an interview process. Obviously not all 10,000 people who have applied will go through that interview process but those who are selected will be tested in the language, in the same way others will be tested in other languages as well.

Separate to that, while there is an onus on those who say they are proficient to make sure they are, there is a specific focus within the organisation on trying to improve everybody’s proficiency in Irish as well. That comes with the Irish-language strategy that was published recently. There is an online resource available to people so they can, at every stage, try to improve, upskill and upgrade their language skills.