John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

The Official Languages Act has become one of the worst unfunded mandates in the country. I still maintain that the Department had no clue as to how much it would cost when the Bill was drafted. It will cost tens of millions. I said that at the time and that is what it will run to. Local authority officials are public officials and we read in the newspaper that public officials effectively admit they are wasting money. Instead of preventing waste, Department spokespeople are saying that that amounts to a public service. Effectively they are saying that wasting money is a public service. What we are dealing with is a public disservice. It is interesting to note that the newspaper article to which I alluded mentioned that costs are set to rise substantially in coming years as most county development plans and the local area plans are up for renewal.

This debate occurred in the North of Ireland recently. The Northern Ireland Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety stopped issuing advertisements and other documents in Irish and Ulster Scots. He said that the cost over five years had been €216,000 and that a translation service would still be made available on request. Here is the interesting bit. He told a colleague in the Northern Ireland Assembly that the savings realised would be returned to the health and social services budget. "Obviously in an area like health and social services every penny is precious because health and social services is dealing with every single man, woman and child in Northern Ireland and their health and their well being." I was reminded of what the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, said in the House yesterday, apologising for what happened in the health services. If I made the practical suggestion that the money we are wasting in this area could be put into the health services I know I would be met with derision by the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív. That is where the money should go. We are wasting money and we should put it into an area where it is needed. They identified the issue in the North and they did it. God help us, I know there is not a snowball's chance in hell of that ever happening here.

Hundreds of thousands of euro have already been and, ultimately, tens of millions of euro will be stripped from local authority and Department budgets in order to satisfy the Minister's own personal whims when it comes to the Irish language. I know this because every Irish speaker with whom I have ever discussed the matter believes it is a joke.

See this speech in context