Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he has had further discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs following on recent discussions at EU level regarding the official status of the Irish language; if he has been informed whether discussions on the formal proposal tabled by Ireland by way of a draft amendment to EEC Regulation 1/1958 have been concluded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5809/05]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As previously indicated to the House in replies to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 48 and 81 on 14 Nollaig 2004, a process of discussions has been initiated with the other EU member states and the EU institutions seeking official and working language status for the Irish language in the EU under EEC Regulation 1/1958. The regulation is the legal instrument that governs the EU institutions' official and working language regime.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs announced on 24 November 2004 that Ireland had tabled a formal proposal, by way of a draft amendment to EEC Regulation 1/1958, requesting that official and working language status be accorded to the Irish language. The focus in the discussions, which are ongoing, with representatives of other EU member states and the EU institutions is on securing agreement on the practical modalities for this objective. As indicated in previous replies, it is inappropriate for me to make any public comment on the detail of these discussions until they have been brought to a conclusion.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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The Minister's reply is identical to the reply given when this question was last raised. No Member on this side of the House wants to involve himself or herself in anything that could be detrimental to achieving official and working language status for the Irish language in the EU. However, one fears we will hear the same old song into the next general election. Have there been any developments since the announcement made on 24 November 2004 in furthering the achievement of status for the Irish language in the EU?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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It is all or nothing in this process. We must get agreement from all EU member states. When we are satisfied that this objective has been reached, we will then seek to have a decision made. As the work is ongoing, I cannot say any more. Last February people claimed the Government would never make a decision on seeking status for the Irish language and would keep putting it off. I recall these same arguments with the Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla. In that case, we made the decision at the right time. The same applies to achieving recognition of the Irish language. Inniu sé an aimsir, but this is another one of those remarks made in the House about issues that will not be resolved before the next general election. I am confident that it will be resolved before the next election. I am also confident about the methodology used in achieving this objective.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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I do not know where the Minister got the idea that people are claiming the objective will not be reached. We simply want to know what is happening. Is the Government being unsuccessful in a limited way? Are there major problems with some member states? Do some agree with the Irish position? Do some disagree, particularly those member states that have languages not considered a main language within their borders, but have larger numbers than Irish speakers speaking them as a first language? Members on this side of the House do not know what is happening, be it good, bad or indifferent. No one is commenting on whether it is desirable or otherwise. Will the Minister simply inform us, in as far as he can, as to what is happening? If all he has told us is all he can say, then he should not bother to reply.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Maybe I should not bother then as I cannot inform the House any more. The Deputy will be aware how these discussions take place. It would be inappropriate for me to discuss informal discussions that have taken place with other member states. The Government is committed to achieving this objective. Last spring, during the negotiations for the EU constitution, a similar process of working around the table in getting member states to agree was successfully handled by the Taoiseach. I am confident that those working in this process will have the same result. I will not go into details as to what is happening as it will not help the case because of how these discussions take place. It is wrong to believe that the Government is not committed to achieving this objective as quickly as possible. The day one decides to proceed with the argument for recognition, all 25 member states must be in agreement.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if his attention has been drawn to a recent article (details supplied) showing that more people here now speak Mandarin or Cantonese than Irish as a first language; if he will consider amending the Official Languages Act 2003 to take account of the growing number of languages other than Irish and English that are spoken on a widespread basis here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5796/05]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I have no statutory role or function in the Mandarin or Cantonese languages. Article 8 of the Constitution provides that the Irish language, as the national language, is the first official language of the State. The English language is recognised as a second official language. Accordingly, these two languages are the only official languages constitutionally recognised by the State. Official languages are defined in the Official Languages Act 2003 in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. In these circumstances, the issue of amending the Official Languages Act 2003 does not arise.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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I recently read that on a daily basis more people in Ireland now speak one of the Chinese languages than the Irish language. According to reports, approximately 50,000 Chinese live in Ireland who use Mandarin or Cantonese as their first language. Coimisiún na Gaeltachta found that of 90,000 Irish speakers, only approximately half of this number spoke Irish on a regular basis. What has gone wrong? Large resources were spent in developing the Irish language yet this comparison emerges. Ireland, whether we like it, is becoming a multicultural society where in the future languages such as the Chinese ones will be the first language to a greater number than those using the Irish language. I am talking about people who become citizens and whose rights are identical to any other citizen in the State. I flag it on two levels. It must make us reflect on how successful the movement for the revival of the Irish language has been over the history of the State and how much our society is changing and becoming more multicultural.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The statement in the article in the newspaper is nonsense. It talks about 90,000 people in the Gaeltacht. I think there are 86,000 people. It goes on to talk about the number of Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht. As we all know, a large number of daily Irish speakers do not live in the Gaeltacht. The Irish language is the possession of the people of Ireland and not the people of the Gaeltacht. The Gaeltacht's relevance in all this is that it is the area in which the Irish language is still a community language.

If one checks the statistics, there are more daily Irish speakers than daily Cantonese or Mandarin speakers. The only figures on which we can go are the census figures, which are authoritative. When one checks them for daily Irish speakers, and even allowing for the fact children say they speak Irish daily, one finds the article is another one of those in that particular newspaper which is short on fact and quite liberal in the way it interprets things, but good luck to it. I suppose it sells newspapers.

The other issue is much broader. I know of no proposal to amend the Constitution to add other official languages. The Irish language was the indigenous language of the country going back 2,000 years and the one which survived. Norman French and English followed. English is now recognised as an official language in view of the fact a large number of people on this island speak it. I presume sometime in the future if there are sufficient numbers of speakers of other languages, the Oireachtas and the people — the only two groups which can do so — might seek to change the official languages of this State, but I do not believe it is an issue at present.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I agree with Deputy O'Shea that much money has been spent on the Irish language and that not enough progress has been made since the foundation of the State. I agree with the Minister that more needs to be done and I fully support his views on preserving, improving and supporting the Irish language movement. It is also important that we interact with people who speak languages other than Irish and English, particularly at local government and local Health Service Executive levels. Does the Minister believe we should have a more proactive approach to employing interpreters locally and in our courts? We need to account for the thousands of new people moving to our country who speak languages other than Irish and English.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I notice that often the people who are most intolerant of other languages are those who are monolingual English speakers and that Irish speakers tend to be fairly easy going about it because they have faced the problem of not being able to get services through the Irish language and they are very supportive of other cultures. People coming to this country, particularly those with children going to school, tend to be very open to the idea of learning not only English but Irish as well. They often have a very open attitude towards languages. Many of them are not only bilingual but are multilingual when they arrive here.

The influx of people into this country has changed attitudes towards languages which is very welcome and which, in a peculiar way — I have been asked the question recently by a number of commentators — is very supportive of Irish because it has resulted in a much greater acceptance of difference, multiculturalism and multilingualism which was not so evident 20 or 30 years ago when I was growing up. Every time I gave my name, I was asked what it was in English as if one could not have a name in a language without an English equivalent. There is a much greater acceptance now that one's name is one's name and that one does not have to keep translating it into another language.