Mr. John Howlin:

As the Deputy says, that is a key gap in our knowledge at the moment and it is one at which the advisory committee is looking, supported by the University of Galway, to identify those types of posts where there should be an Irish-language competency. That baselining work would be very important to understand the level people have, the posts they are in, and then the posts where there should be a competency element.

To pick up on some of the points about what is going on, I have mentioned some of the OneLearning courses and there is a range of courses now that are linked to the TEG framework and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. There were 500 people on those courses last year and over 500 the year before as well so there is a lot of interest. Members might be aware that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and the Media is also now funding a public service Irish speakers network. That will be key to have the kind of interaction that was mentioned so that when someone does a course, they can continue to interact in a structured but informal way on an ongoing basis. It may not necessarily be a key part of their job but it is supports the development of the language as well. Therefore, there are a number of different initiatives that are trying to slot together. One of the key benefits of having the advisory committee from across Departments and sectors is that we own different bits of the system and we are trying to slot them together in a meaningful way that supports Irish-language speakers from recruitment and attracting them in through the development in the system as well. It is important work. We have been talking a lot about the plan but the fact that the committee will keep working after the plan is equally important.