Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

To answer the last question, when we discussed the Official Languages Act with a view to reducing the burden on the entire system, we agreed here that we would not ask for Bills to be translated. That does not stop somebody doing preliminary work but it was decided that it would be too much to ask the system to translate every manifestation of a Bill. That was a right decision.

The second question concerns who should do that function. The responsibility for translation of Acts of the Oireachtas rests with the Oireachtas and that has been the case since the foundation of the State. That is reflected in Standing Order 18 of the Standing Orders of the Oireachtas. That is why we are in this position.

There is a challenge for all of us. Government is not trying to dump this problem on anybody else. I recognise the challenges. It does not matter whether I am a member of the Government or a Member of the Oireachtas, we have collective responsibility for fulfilling what are our constitutional obligations. If anything, it could be argued that the Official Languages Act bought us some time because if the court had asked us we would have said that we had put a process in place that gave us a window of three years. Otherwise, it could have asked for it much quicker. That danger existed, although I do not know if it would have materialised. Nobody knows until one goes before a court, but the Official Languages Act gave us a window in that we could say the State was providing a legislative framework to deal with its constitutional obligations.

On whether it should be done here rather than in the Department, in terms of efficiency it should be done in one place but the Oireachtas is responsible for legislation, not Departments. The Oireachtas passes legislation and we have to be satisfied, as Members of the Oireachtas, that there is a standard and an evenness about this process that only the Oireachtas or an agency could provide. The problem is that legislation is made by the Oireachtas. There are arguments to the effect that the authentic version of legislative measures should be produced by the Oireachtas for the Oireachtas because its Members are making the legislation.

The real challenge facing us is not who should do this function because regardless of who does it the same amount of legislation will have to be translated and the same challenges in terms of highly skilled staff and getting the best technology will face us. There is some fantastic technology that could reduce much of the drudgery in translation.

The third aspect is money. The Government has said clearly, and I repeat, that money is not an issue. The money needed will be provided and we accept that can only come from one source, the Department of Finance. We will work with the commission on the issue of staff provision. I have no doubt that if money is needed for the provision of the new technology that is available, which can automatically translate every sentence produced previously, thereby cutting out much of the unnecessary drudgery of legislation, including finance Bills and social welfare Bills and others with fairly similar provisions, it will be provided. This technology could indicate the ones that are the same and do the translation without the intervention of a human hand.

There are ways to tackle this problem, which is a joint one. We are working together and ongoing discussions are taking place to deliver a solution. It is imperative that we reach the point soon where, very shortly after the passing of Bills by the Oireachtas, there is a version available in the two official languages, as is the constitutional obligation. It is clearly laid down also in the Supreme Court judgment.

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