Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Aontaím leis an Teachta gur áis don phobal ar fad aistriúchán a bheith a fáil nuair atá an díospóireacht ar siúl.

I wish to make two points about the debate on the date of implementation of the measures. The Government decided to introduce the €1 an hour increase in the minimum wage on 1 July, the same date as the changes in employers' PRSI, the lowering of the VAT rate and the application of the pension levy. It was a decision of Government to have these done simultaneously in the context of the jobs initiative and also to launch the national internship scheme on the same date.

It is a political reality, for which many of us do not particularly care, that the former Government entered into an agreement with the IMF part of which is to subject the oversight of Irish financial reports and returns on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. The Deputy is correct in saying the end of June marks the end of another quarter for IMF reporting; that is a fact of life. The objective of the Government is to remove us from that situation by returning the country to prosperity and employment. The measures that come into effect on 1 July will give 5,000 people an opportunity to take up a quality internship. On that day we will raise the minimum wage by €1 an hour. This is an important point for workers on the minimum wage and one on which the IMF did not agree with the previous Government. The current Government is responsible for the change. The first of July is important for the political reasons I have outlined.

I would prefer if the Irish translation were available. I note Deputy Higgins's suggestion on the explanatory memorandum. This matter could, perhaps, be taken up by the Whips in the House or a committee of Deputies with a particular interest in the language to determine whether arrangements can be made to facilitate Irish speakers in the manner suggested by Deputy Ó Snodaigh. The important point is that citizens who do their business through Irish should be facilitated with translations, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh has said. Translations, however, are very expensive, as the Deputy knows, and they are enormously costly to the State.

This section is to convenience the vast majority of citizens in terms of moving the country forward economically from the mess it is in, and ultimately getting the IMF off our backs and the troika to go home. When this occurs, we can then consign this particularly painful episode to the history books, as we would all like. If the Deputy is suggesting that we hold up the measures in order to provide for an Irish translation thereof, I suggest to him that many Irish speakers actually appreciate the urgency of the measures to restore the economic fortunes of this country and give people who are currently dependent on social welfare an opportunity to return to work, education, training or internships, or avail of a variety of opportunities that the Government has set out as part of its programme.

Perhaps the arrangements for Irish translations should be reviewed. There may be a more cost-effective way of proceeding, perhaps by investing in new technology. This is one of the options that might be considered that would be helpful in producing online Irish translations pretty much coterminously with versions in English. It is important that we proceed from 1 July with a range of policies and initiatives that the Government has put forward through the jobs initiative. Deputy Ó Snodaigh said we could wait for a week, three weeks or a couple of months. We should not lose a couple of months-----

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