Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No 1:

In page 3, lines 22 and 23, to delete all words from and including " " 'Houses" in line 22 down to and including "of" in line 23 and substitute the following:

" " 'Seirbhís Thithe an Oireachtais' or, in the English language 'Houses of the Oireachtas Service' means the office of".

This amendment is simple and in line with the spirit of the view expressed by the Minister of State. He accepted an amendment from me in 2003 when we discussed the Act in Bill form. If one looks at the explanatory memorandum of the 2003 Act, it states: "An Act to establish a body to be known as Coimisiún Thithe an Oireachtais or, in the English language", etc. It also states "Seirbhís Thithe an Oireachtais' or, in the English language".

The reason for this and the following grouped amendment No. 2 is to try to ensure that the Title is known in the Irish language rather than in English. Far too often, our newly established quangos, State boards and bodies are no longer known by the correct title, namely, the Irish language version. A way of overcoming this is to insert at an early stage of any Act that establishes a new body wording that gives prominence to the Irish name and then provides the English version, stating "also known as".

Members may recall that one of the functions of the commission was to ensure that the translation of Acts of the Oireachtas from one official language into another, generally from English into Irish. That was one of the amendments provided in the amendment Act of 2006. The commission has failed in that role. When I was preparing these amendments, I found there was no Irish language translation of the very Act that gave the Coimisiún Tithe an Oireachtais the additional function to translate it.

That is not a criticism of the translation service. I have long had this argument with the Government. It is difficult for somebody like me who would like to contribute to debates in the Irish language more frequently but is hampered by the non-availability of Bills in the Irish language. Two and a half years later, the 2006 Act has still not been translated.

The common practice here is that the titles of positions in the House - the Ceann Comhairle and the Taoiseach - are in the Irish language. That is the reason amendment No. 2 states that "as far as possible the Irish language titles ..." should be used. It is not obligatory in that amendment but it is trying to ensure that one of the functions of this House, and of successive Governments, is to promote the Irish language and one way of doing that is to ensure that there is greater use of the Irish language. In 2003 the then Minister accepted the spirit of my amendment, which changed the Long Title of that Bill. In the same way I hope the Minister of State would accept my amendments Nos. 1 and 2.

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