Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I could not agree with the Deputy more. An interesting side-effect of the Act is that people have suddenly become aware of printing costs. We all see beautiful glossy magazines and photographs which cost us a fortune. Many publications are way too comprehensive. In my experience, one gets so much material each week that there is only one place for most of it, that is, in one's little wastepaper basket. That is an issue which concerns us all. As part of the implementation of the Act — it is an issue we will discuss — we must all look at practical ways to save costs on behalf of the State.

However, there are certain fundamentals — this is a point on which I really appreciate Members' support — to which we should adhere. It is a fundamental right of the Irish speakers of this country to get certain basic documents in Irish and to get basic services through Irish. I do not care what that costs, it is a fundamental right. We can make cost savings in other ways so that the net cost is not an unrealistic burden. In my Department's experience — we have totted up the figures and have looked at it from every perspective — if we use the web on which I am very keen, we will find we can implement the Act without any serious impression on the cost base of running the country. However, Irish speakers will still have that fundamental right to which they are entitled in their own country. It will take a little adjustment but we will get there with the minimum fuss.

I have one reservation about publishing everything on the web. When we publish consultation documents and so on, we put them on the web and do not publish them in hard copy. However, in the case of certain documents, we should have a small number of hard copies for people who, unlike us, do not have access to a computer or a facility for printing documents. I use printed copies for such purposes.

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