Ms Deirdre Shanley:

To deal with the new Irish language scheme first, the Department's current scheme is still in force until the new one is put in place. We are operating under the current scheme until the new scheme is accepted and developed. Until it is published and agreed with the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Joe McHugh, the old scheme will remain in place. The new language scheme is currently being prepared. There is absolutely no intention of weakening any of the commitments in the current scheme. We will be committed to providing quality services in Irish to our customers and we will be continuing to look at ways to enhance that. We recognise that there is always room for improvement but, as an organisation, we are committed to making every effort to deliver services in the best way we can. We have undertaken a consultation process in terms of developing the new scheme. We advertised publicly and looked for submissions in respect of its development. Those submissions are under consideration at the moment. We are looking at ways to improve and enhance our services at all times in terms of the delivery and development of our new language scheme. We hope to have the new scheme agreed and finalised by the end of the summer. The scheme will be published when it has been agreed with the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The Deputy asked about the number of staff who are delivering services. I mentioned a figure of 191 staff who have been formally identified as willing and able to provide a full level of business services through Irish. There are many other staff members throughout the Department who probably have a level of Irish but who are not in a position to, or do not want to, take up the responsibility of delivering that service. The names of those 191 staff members are available to all staff on the intranet. If there is a need for service, those staff members are contactable and are available to provide that service. We are very satisfied that a full service is available through Irish in our offices in Gaeltacht areas. Those 191 staff are spread throughout all of the Department's schemes and services areas, including many of our Intreo centres. In many of our locations we have identified staff who are available to provide service through Irish on the spot.

We are obviously looking to get more staff and to recruit more bilingual staff but we are dependent on panels being available through the Public Appointments Service. Sometimes those Irish bilingual panels are not available. Sometimes we also recruit staff who have Irish through open competitions. They do not necessarily always come in through those bilingual panels. Where we can, we access those panels to recruit and identify staff. The figure of 191 who have been identified as willing to provide services through Irish comes out of our overall staff complement, but it is something we want to continue to grow, as we have done. The figure in January 2017 was 152. The figure has improved and we are looking to continue to grow it.

The Deputy also mentioned our contractors and asked whether they provide services through Irish, particularly in branch offices. It is a requirement that our contractors provide services through the medium of Irish where that is required. All offices in Gaeltacht areas must, at all times, have the capacity to provide services in the Irish language. The same commitments in terms of the Official Languages Act and our Irish language scheme apply to our contractors.