Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Troy spoke about Gaeltacht areas, but our growing number of Irish speakers is not just confined to Gaeltacht areas. If one of these speakers contacts an ETB that is not within a Gaeltacht area and wishes to avail of the services through the Irish language, it is important that the facility is there to provide for that. If there are no Irish language speakers on a particular ETB, does that mean the board will have to outsource translation services? If somebody wants to avail of services through the Irish language, how will that board meet its obligations under the Official Languages Act? If it is the case that requirements such as translation must be outsourced or that additional services must be brought in, that will surely involve an additional cost. That cost could be offset here and now by including in the legislation the provision that a certain number of board members should be able to carry out their functions through the medium of the Irish language.

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