Dáil debates

Thursday, 20 January 2022

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions

Irish Language

10:10 am

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if work has commenced in his Department to implement the provisions of the new Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021, which was passed just before Christmas 2021; the details of this work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1358/22]

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Bogfaimid ón teanga mar a bhí go dtí an teanga mar atá mar tá sé beo beathach i gcónaí. Buíochas le Dia, tá sé thar a bheith beo beathach sa nDáilcheantar atá againne. The targets in the newly enacted Official Languages (Amendment) Act relating to the provision of services through Irish and, as a consequence, the number of people to be recruited with the ability to do their business in Irish are very challenging and will require urgent action. This has been in gestation for a long time. What work has been done to date to progress this?

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Cuirim fáilte roimh achtú Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla (Leasú) 2021. Is nóiméad tábhachtach é seo do lucht na Gaeltachta, do na daoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge agus dóibh siúd a bhfuil suim acu sa teanga. Tagann sé i ndiaidh tréimhse fhada chomhairliúcháin agus dhíospóireachta. Feabhsóidh an tAcht seo na forálacha do chainteoirí Gaeilge.

I welcome the enactment of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 on 22 December. It underpins a key programme for Government commitment. It is notable that this coincides with Irish becoming a full working language of the EU institutions at the start of January. As the Deputy is aware from submissions made to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Irish Language, Gaeltacht and the Irish-speaking Community, the achievement of an ambitious 20% recruitment target of proficient Irish speakers by 2030 requires a cross-government approach. It is ambitious and it is what we must work towards. This is against a backdrop whereby only 0.4% of posts are designated by Civil Service employers as being Irish-speaking posts.

The Act provides that within six months of the date of enactment, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media shall establish an Irish languages services advisory committee. The functions of this committee are set out in the Act, as the Deputy knows, and include the preparation of a national plan within two years of its establishment to increase the provision of services through the medium of Irish as well as periodic surveying of the number of Irish speakers employed in the public service. The work of this committee may include consideration of approaches to the future recruitment of Irish speakers. My Department and the Public Appointments Service, PAS, as the principal recruiter for the Civil Service and public service, will be appropriately represented as members on this committee. The Deputy is aware of a number of actions the Department and PAS are already taking to increase the number of fluent Irish speakers in the Civil Service.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I know people wish to achieve this but it will not happen of its own accord. Passing the Act will turn out to be the easy part of this. The Minister said it would take two years to prepare the plan. This will take us to 2024. I believe it will be impossible to achieve it by 2030 unless we start now. There are some obvious measures that do not need two years to plan. What has already been done in anticipation of the Bill to increase the number of people who will be capable of doing their business through Irish? There is no point in advertising the jobs if people are not there. Has the Minister had a serious talk with the Minister with responsibility for higher education on the need to provide more courses through Irish and in Irish at third level to ensure there will be qualified people to provide the services and we will not once again hit a wall and state we will not achieve it?

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. I agree with him that this will not happen of its own accord. The Government has signed up to this. The legislation is in place and we will all have to work together to meet this goal. There are dedicated recruitment and promotion competitions targeted at Irish language speakers. As the Deputy has rightly said, this in itself is not enough. Last year, PAS held general Civil Service competitions for individuals with fluency in Irish for clerical officer and higher executive officer level. Today PAS is launching an Irish executive officer competition. We are dependent on the quality of applicants and the availability of a pool of people to apply who can meet the requisite level of competence. In addition, we are investing significantly in providing training for existing civil servants. Irish language training courses continue to be made available for new hires and all existing civil servants via One Learning, the learning and development centre for the Civil Service based in the Department. Close to 500 such enrolments took place in 2021. I accept the Deputy's overall point that this has to be a cross-government approach, including through further and higher education.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome anybody improving their Irish but I am a realist. I am very hard-headed about this. There are approximately 100,000 daily Irish speakers in the country. There are interesting standards laid down in Canada on this issue. To provide a service competently through the Irish language people would need to be daily Irish speakers. They would need to be absolutely at home with the language. There is no point in advertising the jobs if we have not made comprehensive plans that there would be people with the competencies to apply for the jobs. The plan should focus on the higher education sector as well as Gaelscoileanna. We are a bit better off at second level and primary level than we are at third level. This is one little step we need to challenge. Will there be a comprehensive all-of-government response to make sure that when the jobs are advertised there are people with a real competency in Irish to apply for them?

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. There will be. This is the process that is set out in the legislation for which the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has taken responsibility. The core point, which the Deputy has acknowledged, is that the number of Irish speakers applying to join the Civil Service is quite low. This in itself is a problem we need to address.

I have been looking at the figures. To give context, when comparing the most recent analogous general Civil Service competitions undertaken by PAS at clerical officer level, there were 12,200 applicants where there was no requirement for fluent Irish and 165 where fluent Irish was required. The second figure is 1.35% of the first by comparison. There are some specialist roles that are presenting a number significant challenges in the context of recruitment. That is the reality. This is not an issue that can be resolved through the recruitment channel itself. The availability of people who have the requisite skills and who are willing to apply and take up these roles is key. This requires a whole-of-government approach and that is what the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is co-ordinating through her role as provided for in the Act.

Question No. 15 replied to with Written Answers.