Mr. Padraig McMahon:

We do not know for sure. I very much doubt it. I have seen Irish courses advertised reasonably regularly. We can ask if there is any hindrance. In a general sense, it would be great as part of the wider attempt to make the use of the language more attractive if people had some level of Irish, even if they were not necessarily able to carry out their duties through Irish. That is something we will be looking at because, as we have heard, a significant level of Irish is required to carry out the job to a high level through Irish. We would certainly be interested in moving people along. As part of our review of this area, we need to look at whether we are being too formal. We do not yet know whether that is the case. We will try to find out why there is a break between people saying they want to improve their Irish language skills and people ultimately going ahead and doing so. There is no obstacle. We are not aware of anybody being refused time off to do these courses. It is too early to give the committee any assurances in this regard. We are looking into the matter.