Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this question again. I acknowledge his consistent approach. He shares my approach in that he sees opportunities.

The Irish language was given full official and working language status in the EU from 2007. However, because of recruitment and resource concerns, temporary derogations were put in place to cover the periods 2007-11 and 2012-16. A unanimous decision by the Council of the EU is required on whether to end, amend or extend the derogation from 2017.

The Government places major importance on Irish becoming a full working language of the EU institutions and is committed to ending the derogation. The Government, however, is also conscious of concerns about the recruitment of sufficient numbers of Irish language translators, lawyer linguists and translation assistants, and the associated resource implications during a period of adjustment by the EU institutions. It is in this context that the Government is seeking agreement at the Council of the European Union for a Council regulation extending the derogation for another five years, with a view to the derogation ending on 31 December 2021. An incremental approach to the provision of additional services is also being proposed so as to narrow the scope of the derogation in the interim.

In tandem with this approach, the Government is also taking significant steps to create the circumstances in which a sufficient number of qualified graduates are in place to meet EU recruitment needs. Following a review of the advanced Irish language skills initiative, which is funded by my Department, new arrangements for relevant third level courses are currently being implemented by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills and the Higher Education Authority.

These new arrangements, which include an increased focus on competence in three official languages, are currently being implemented in third level institutions from the start of the 2015-16 academic year. These arrangements are aimed at improving the success rate in EU recruitment competitions and at better equipping graduates for employment in EU institutions.

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