Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that the Minister of State has put new information on the record. I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for Justice, which gave me the breakdown of every Garda station in the Gaeltacht regions, including County Donegal. It comprised more than 300 gardaí in County Donegal and suggested there were only nine with Gaelic as a native language or with proficiency. I subsequently questioned that because I know it is not true. I know many of the gardaí in my community who speak fluent Irish and many of them grew up there. When I submitted the question again, I was told that information was accurate but it was not. I ask that the record of the Dáil be corrected. Some media outlets were looking to cover the story but I said it was not accurate information. There are issues concerning Garda stations in County Donegal and the Irish language. County Donegal is vast and rural. In the directive from 2018 and the Garda third Irish-language strategy document from 2022, there was a commitment to the Gaeltacht regions. There are gardaí who are proficient in the Irish language, want to move to County Donegal and are outside of the Gaeltacht areas, yet there are vacancies in stations in the Gaeltacht. They have to be given tús áite or priority in this situation.

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