Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 5:

In page 15, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: "(10) At least 20 per cent of ordinary members appointed to the Commission shall be competent to conduct their functions in the Irish language.".

This amendment arises out of the discussions we had in the run-up to the enactment of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021. It concerns the need for Government-appointed boards to have a certain number of people on them who have the competency to carry out their functions in the Irish language, given that in this case they will be dealing with the whole country, areas of which are designated Gaeltacht areas. The rights of Irish speakers outside of Gaeltacht areas, as expressed in the Official Languages Acts, also have to be taken on board. There is also a need for those who are in positions of authority to have competency to carry out their functions in the language. With amendment No. 22, we are also seeking to ensure that the chairperson must be able to conduct his or her functions in the Irish language. Amendment No. 21 seeks to require that at least 20% of members of staff appointed in a given year shall be competent to conduct their functions in the Irish language. That is in line with the provisions of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021, which aims to ensure that 20% of new recruits to the public service will be competent in the Irish language by 2030. Given that this will be a new organisation, we are seeking to impose the 20% rule from the start. Rather than starting off with 100% ability to function in the English language only, we want to set an example with the coimisiún.