Mr. Andrew Patterson:

-----speak to that in English. Yes, The Deputy is right, I do not have Irish yet.

We have a huge number of vacancies which have put huge pressure on the Ukrainian international protection side and huge additional demands on the Department. There are a great number of vacancies in that area and we are going to be taking on additional functions with the redress scheme. We will, therefore, be recruiting large numbers of staff.

The skill needs for those staff members and the pressure on the units, if they are faced with seeking a member of staff without or with Irish, is great also. There is a shorter timeframe, as one can imagine with that pressure on the Department and on units, so quite often the expedient choice is just to get the next person available rather than waiting for somebody with the Irish language. This would, perhaps, account for the low level of staff we have who can provide an Irish language service in the Department.