Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom aird an Aire a tharraingt ar scéal a foilsíodh an tseachtain seo caite ag Méabh Ní Thuathaláin ar tuairisc.ie. Deir an t-alt go bhfuil sé: "...deimhnithe ag Childline gur i mBéarla amháin a chuirtear a gcuid seirbhísí ar fáil in Éirinn i ndiaidh do Tuairisc.ie fiosrú a dhéanamh leo faoi chás inar dúradh le hoibrí deonach gan labhairt le páiste i nGaeilge". In no way do I wish to cast aspersions on Childline, its services, the extremely important work it does and the volunteers who work for it, but in this case a volunteer was instructed not to speak to a child in Irish. A child rang Childline, spoke Irish and by a stroke of luck somebody at the other end of the line was able to respond in the child's native language. It is unacceptable that a volunteer would be instructed not to respond to that child as Gaeilge, the child's native language. The Coiste na Gaeilge has heard stories from Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta about speech and language services and health services. It is unacceptable.

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