Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 10, line 27, after "members," to insert "who shall be competent to conduct their functions through the medium of Irish,".

This is a provision to ensure sufficient appointments of people competent in Irish to serve the needs of both the Irish-speaking community and the Constitution. We know there has been a problem in the courts because there are not enough judges who are competent in Irish to handle cases as Gaeilge. That is not satisfactory. We even had a senior member of the Judiciary publicly state that people who seek to have their cases heard in Irish face prejudice. This is not equal treatment before the law. These problems have gone unnoticed or ignored by the Government. Ensuring the director and commissioners responsible for the new judicial appointments commission are competent in Irish will help to address this lack of understanding at least.

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