Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The response is very disappointing. We should not even have to table these amendments. For me the real contradiction is if you look at the Government and the Department there has been quite a sensible use of Irish language names, particularly for schemes or agencies that are front-facing. Deputy Ó Snodaigh made a point about the Croí Cónaithe scheme. For those of us who are not Irish-language speakers, it is lovely that we actually go and look up what the word means and all of a sudden we understand the words for "beating heart". Again in the Department, Project Tosaigh means that the project is to begin. It began far too slowly in my view but it is still a beginning nonetheless.

In some of these proposed provisions, the chief planning commissioner is the public official for an organisation that, in the legislation we are dealing with, is named in Irish. It makes no sense. I do not understand why it would be necessary to go to the Official of the Parliamentary Counsel in this regard. The only question here is whether the grammar and spelling of these words are correct and if these are the correct translations. I say this because the Minister of State is either in favour of doing this or he is not. If he is in favour, then it would be much easier to just accept the amendments. If Deputy Ó Snodaigh and his team have got any of their spellings wrong, and I doubt they have, that could be fixed on a later Stage. In some sense, I think it would be great if we did not have to bring forward these proposed amendments and if this was just done as a matter of course. Whether that concerns a public agency, the public face and figures of agencies or key public schemes, this approach has such eminent sense. For this reason, I am with Deputy Ó Snodaigh on this point in thinking we should press the amendments.