Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked three distinct questions. In regard to his first question, I agree with the Deputy that there will be functional bilinguals who have absolute proficiency in Irish and English working in areas other than the defined posts or geographical areas that would require it and are designated. I hope there will be a much broader spread of people who are proficient to handle any case in either Irish or English. Most people in the public service - that is, anybody who has gone through the Irish education system - will have a reasonable grasp of Irish, but that has been the problem. In the past we had the notion that we would get an extra few marks for being able to perform as Gaeilge on a particular day. We need to move away from that. If we consider what is happening in Canada and in other areas, we need to put in place provision for real proficiency in Irish for people to be able to deal in a comprehensive way with citizens who want to transact all their business as Gaeilge, as is their constitutional right.

I will briefly deal with the Deputy's two other questions. First, independent verification is something that I can look at. Second, I do not agree with the Deputy's mathematical formula. He is right in terms of the 6% figure in that we could pick a number, but let us see how this particular policy works. I am absolutely open to any inputs the Deputy might want to make in regard to it but I think it is an innovation that is worth trying.

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