Mr. Daithí Ó Caigne:

I do not know if it is the case that this Department is responsible for ensuring compliance. I believe that responsibility has passed to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. This Department's responsibility in the first instance has been discharged by the putting in place of the Gaelchultúr contract. This allows Departments to draw on the expertise of that organisation to train up their people. In the current circumstances, this Department's learning and development module is rolling out a learning and development scheme across the Civil Service. Through a consultation process with the Departments a number of skills have been identified for the scheme. One such skill is proficiency in the Irish language. As I indicated to the Chair, the Department is in the course of putting in place a facility through Gaelchultúr Teoranta. This organisation will provide Irish language training to the Civil Service up to a proficiency of honours leaving certificate. Through a business partner process which helped build and develop the model, this level has been deemed by various Departments as sufficient for their Irish language requirements.