Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. I agree with him on the points he made. In the context of the Act and the position of the Irish language, I stated in this House during the passage of the Bill that we must be realistic. The available resources must be assessed and we must progress according to what is available. For that reason the plan for my Department is modest because resources are limited. The number of publications requiring translation is limited and has been vastly exaggerated. The Department is aware of the resources issue. It is the responsibility of each body to decide what are the proposals and what would be required to provide a good service.

The Department has chosen 25 bodies, but they have been chosen strategically, either because of their great national importance, such as the Office of the President or the Department of the Taoiseach, or because they service the public in an interactive way, such as the Office of the Revenue Commissioners or the Department of Social and Family Affairs, which deals with everybody, those from the Gaeltacht and the non-Gaeltacht, Irish and English speakers. Bodies have been chosen if they are located in regions, in the case of local authorities and health boards, where there is a Gaeltacht region. The 25 bodies represent a large percentage of the public's interaction with State bodies. The public's interaction with the final 200 or 300 bodies may be much less than those 25 bodies which deal with the public on a significant daily basis. Taxing one's car and dealing with the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners are simple tasks everyone in the State does. Ergo we have focused on the bodies with the most interaction with people in the State. When these 25 bodies are in place, we will have made a major impact in terms of services.

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