Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 9 of 1 July in which I confirmed 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 this regard. The reports for the years to 2009 are available in the Oireachtas Library.

While 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 consider it will not be possible to achieve everything in the short term. However, I am committed to the implementation of the Act and to the achievement of its objectives over time. The full 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. The Deputy will be aware that the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Sport, Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs recently published a report on its recommendations on the strategy. These recommendations are being assessed by the relevant Departments and I hope to be in a position to seek the approval of Government to publish the strategy shortly.

I am also committed to ensuring that the Official Languages 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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