Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 13, line 31, after "form" to insert ", in both the English and Irish language".

These amendments refer to providing warnings to the public in Irish and English. There are two main reasons for this. One is the position of the Irish language in our society and Constitution. There are many people, and I hope it is a growing number, who live, eat, sleep, dream and go to the pub as Gaeilge. If we are serious about these public health warnings, which we are, then we must recognise there are many people in our society whose first language is Irish. It has primacy in our Constitution. As such, these warnings should be in both languages.

The second reason is to try to future-proof the Bill from challenge. As I laid out to the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, on Committee Stage, when labelling for cigarettes was introduced, a High Court case was taken against the State by a teacher who argued he had a right for the warnings to be in Irish and English. My understanding is he won that court case. I do not want a situation whereby the labelling happens only in English and a High Court challenge is taken, which the Government loses, thus slowing down implementation of the Bill.

See this speech in context