Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I shudder to think. As indicated previously to the House, I wish to confirm that my Department keeps the work of implementing the Official Languages Act 2003 under continuing review. Furthermore, there is an obligation on me, as Minister, to review the operation of the Act each year, as provided for in section 5 of the Act, and to report formally to the Houses of the Oireachtas in that regard. The reports for the years to 2009 are available in the Oireachtas Library.

Whereas I am satisfied that considerable progress has been made to date in the implementation, on a phased basis, of the provisions of the Act, I agree with the view expressed by my predecessor that it will not be possible to achieve everything overnight. I can again confirm that I am committed to the implementation of the Official Languages Act and to the achievement of its objectives. Indeed, the implementation of the Act is one of the principles set out in the Government's policy statement on the Irish language, issued in December 2006, which forms the basis of the draft 20-year strategy for Irish, which was published in November 2009. The draft has been under consideration by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Sports, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and I hope to receive the report shortly.

I am also committed to ensuring that the Act be implemented in as cost-effective a way as possible, particularly having regard to the current economic climate. My Department will continue to approach these matters in a realistic, flexible and pragmatic way, especially in agreeing statutory language schemes. In this context, a significant number of resources are already in place to assist public bodies in meeting their obligations as cost effectively as possible.

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