Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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9. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide an update on the lifting of the derogation for the Irish language to be recognised as an official language in the European Union; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31987/15]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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I ask the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, for an update on the derogation for the Irish language. I raised this issue previously and preparatory work is taking place to ensure that the Government makes a decision. The clock is ticking on this matter.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question again. I acknowledge his consistent approach. He shares my approach in that he sees opportunities.

The Irish language was given full official and working language status in the EU from 2007. However, because of recruitment and resource concerns, temporary derogations were put in place to cover the periods 2007-11 and 2012-16. A unanimous decision by the Council of the EU is required on whether to end, amend or extend the derogation from 2017.

The Government places major importance on Irish becoming a full working language of the EU institutions and is committed to ending the derogation. The Government, however, is also conscious of concerns about the recruitment of sufficient numbers of Irish language translators, lawyer linguists and translation assistants, and the associated resource implications during a period of adjustment by the EU institutions. It is in this context that the Government is seeking agreement at the Council of the European Union for a Council regulation extending the derogation for another five years, with a view to the derogation ending on 31 December 2021. An incremental approach to the provision of additional services is also being proposed so as to narrow the scope of the derogation in the interim.

In tandem with this approach, the Government is also taking significant steps to create the circumstances in which a sufficient number of qualified graduates are in place to meet EU recruitment needs. Following a review of the advanced Irish language skills initiative, which is funded by my Department, new arrangements for relevant third level courses are currently being implemented by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills and the Higher Education Authority.

These new arrangements, which include an increased focus on competence in three official languages, are currently being implemented in third level institutions from the start of the 2015-16 academic year. These arrangements are aimed at improving the success rate in EU recruitment competitions and at better equipping graduates for employment in EU institutions.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and acknowledge his commitment in this area. He made dealing with this issue a priority, but it is very disappointing to hear that the derogation is being extended and we do not have the requisite number of translators in place in order to ensure that Irish becomes more than an official language in name only and operates as an official language.

As the Minister of State knows, jobs and job creation have been central tenets of the Government's record. It is, therefore, disappointing that when it knew this was coming down the track more emphasis was not placed on the issue. The Minister of State is not long in the Department, but previous Ministers did not see ensuring that we had the requisite people with specialist knowledge to take up these jobs as a priority. It is important for the future of the language that we all use it on a more regular basis.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I again acknowledge the enthusiasm and dedication of the Deputy to this area. At the moment there are 50 posts in Europe. There is potential for approximately 185 posts. My message to leaving certificate students and to the secondary school students in the Gallery is that if they have three languages and two of them are our first language of Irish and Béarla and the third is French, German or Italian, there will be opportunities for them at the end of 2021. Before that, there will be an incremental approach which will involve extra posts before 2021. My message today, along with that of the Deputy, is that there are opportunities. We do not have responsibility or control over the decision on the derogation; it is an EU Council decision.

We make the recommendation, and we have made a very strong recommendation. We are putting our money where our mouth is and providing additional resources for courses in the likes of King's Inns, LYIT in Letterkenny and NUI Galway. My message today to the students in the Gallery and throughout the country is if they have three languages which include Irish, English and a third language, there will be opportunities. After they leave secondary school and if they go to university, they could be living in Strasbourg or Brussels and they would have a nice lifestyle. They could come over and back because it is not too far away.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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I thank the Minister of State and I welcome his enthusiasm and encouragement for the students, particularly those in the Gallery. I thank him for his response and his interest in ensuring this will happen incrementally and will provide new opportunities for encouraging the development of the Irish language.