Mr. Daithí Ó Caigne:

In 2013, the Government approved the introduction of certain measures to support Irish language proficiency in the Civil Service. It revoked the policy of awarding bonus marks for Irish language proficiency in Civil Service recruitment and promotion competitions. It replaced the bonus marks policy with measures that sought to increase the cohort of functional bilinguals in the Civil Service. This was done to reflect a more competency-based approach to recruitment and, where appropriate, promotion competitions. There is an onus on individual Departments to identify skill sets across the board, including in the cases of positions that require proficiency in Irish. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would become aware of that in two ways, the first of which is the workforce planning process, which has been deployed throughout the Civil Service and has been reinforced through the people strategy that was approved recently. It is intended that, over the course of a three-year horizon, we will identify the kinds of vacancies that require people with proficiency in Irish. That, in essence, is what I understand is meant by functional bilinguals.

The second way in which we become aware of the needs in this area is through the Public Appointments Service, which is asked to manage recruitment of promotion competitions in which proficiency in Irish is a requirement.

We are also made aware of vacancies through the Public Appointments Service, PAS, which is requested to recruit people or to manage promotion competitions for positions in which proficiency in Irish is a requirement. PAS originally used an organisation called Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge but in recent years it has devised its own assessment process, which it is satisfied is robust, to identify sufficient proficiency to fill vacancies in which Irish is required. I need to be reminded----