Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

It was remiss of me when I was on my feet on the last occasion not to congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State for holding their positions. I wish them the very best in the time that remains to them in their present positions.

The Minister has sought plans from 25 bodies. The Schedule to the Act listed over 600 bodies. The Minister hopes to have approved plans for these organisations by the end of March 2005. What does the Minister envisage as the timeframe when he refers to long-term? If fluent Irish-speaking staff are required in 600 different organisations in addition to interpreters and translators who will be required if the Minister succeeds in his efforts to have Irish accepted as an official working language of the EU, I worry that there is an over-estimation of the number of people who are available and who will have sufficient fluency in the language to implement the Act.

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