Mr. Doncha O'Sullivan:

As I understand, the entire competition for the Irish-language stream takes place as Gaeilge so not only would somebody who does not speak Irish not be able to persuade somebody of his or her ability to speak Irish, but they would not be able to do a good interview and do well in the examinations and so would not get into An Garda Síochána. A very high level of Irish is required. Clearly, there are others in the Garda who have not come through that stream and who have only conversational Irish. The programme in Templemore also teaches basic Irish for day-to-day interactions. The people who come in on the specialist Irish-language stream must face the entire process in Irish. It is a very high standard.