Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann calls on the Government to avail of the opportunity, given Ireland's Presidency of the European Union, and the fact that the accession of new members to the EU will result in a recognition of additional languages in the Union, to have the Irish language recognised as an official working language of the EU and its Institutions.

Seo díospóireacht faoi cheann de na teangacha is sine sa domhan — tá sí 2,000 bliain d'aois.

I welcome the Minister of State. I am grateful for the opportunity to debate this important issue. I also welcome the all-party support for the motion because this is the first time there has been solidarity and unity on an issue in this Seanad.

I would like to address what is indefensible about the failure to recognise Irish as an official language of the European Union. It is not excusable that Irish has been ignored for so long. All states that signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and every other state that has signed a treaty of accession since, with the exception of Ireland, have had their official languages recognised as official working languages of the EU. I will not harp on about the mistake made in 1972 but Ireland has a wonderful opportunity, through its Presidency of the EU, to make Irish a formal working language of the EU.

While preparing for the debate, I initially decided to base my argument on the cultural significance of the language. Irish is 2,000 years old and is the oldest language north of the Alps. It is part of our identity and is central to being Irish. However, as I continued my research, I realised there is much more to this debate. An intrinsic economic argument runs side by side with the cultural argument.

Irish is recognised in the Constitution as our first official language. The decision taken in 1972 to exclude Irish as an official EU language was wrong but we should move on. It is timely to act now. The new accession countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, will have their official languages recognised. The population argument is not significant. A total of 38.6 million people live in Poland compared with 380,000 in Malta. Ireland did not object to the recognition of the official languages of smaller member states, where fewer people speak the official language compared to the number of Irish people speaking Irish, according to the latest census figures.

A justifiable privilege has been conferred on the citizens of the accession countries, which has not been afforded to our citizens. The peoples of these states will have the opportunity to seek employment in the EU institutions and the laws of the Union will be provided in their languages. Their languages will become part of the workings of the Parliament and all other EU institutions. It is time we acted to redeem this inconsistency regarding the Irish language.

The process of recognising Irish as an official language does not necessarily have to involve an all or nothing scenario nor does it have to be costly. English is the primary language of the Union. The use of Irish must be practical and manageable and could be cost efficient. Eurocrats sometimes do not use common sense but they can avoid going down the road of making this an extremely costly job. Not all EU documents need to be published in Irish. The process of having Irish recognised as an official working language of the European Union is not so complicated. Allowing Irish to be recognised as an official working language of the EU is entirely a matter for the Government. All that would be required would be for the Government to move to inform the European Commission that it wishes to have Regulation 1 of the Treaty of Rome 1958 altered to include Irish as an official working language.

There would be many advantages for Ireland if Irish were recognised as an official working language. The most obvious, if not the most ideological, is employment opportunities. It is a basic EU requirement for all job candidates to have two official languages. Irish citizens who have two languages, Irish and English, do not even reach the interview stage. This is a discrimination issue and one which should be challenged. If secondary school students in Ireland were aware that it would help them to gain employment in Brussels at Commission level they would have the incentive to learn Irish. There is a growing and dangerous feeling among students and parents that Irish will not get a young person a job. Recognition of Irish would combat this negative feeling that Irish as a subject is useless for employment.

A further problem relates to Irish MEPs whose first language is Irish or who may wish to speak to the European Parliament in Irish. Fianna Fáil MEP, Seán Ó Neachtáin, who was born and lives in the Gaeltacht, needs permission and must give advance notice if he wishes to address the Parliament in Irish, despite its constitutional status as Ireland's first official language. My party colleague, Mary Banotti, was, famously, prevented from delivering her maiden speech in the European Parliament through Irish. This is not good enough. We should be proud of our national language. It is regrettable that those who genuinely want to use it at all levels of the EU are currently prevented from doing so.

In order to gain promotion in the Civil Service at an EU level one must have three working languages. Some years ago the fact that the EU accepts Irish as a language for promotion was highlighted. One needs three languages for promotion but Irish is not acceptable as a qualification for being employed in the first place.

As this motion has all-party support I will not raise the matter of broken Government promises. This evening all Members are singing from the same hymn sheet so I will not refer to that in my contribution.

On 1 May this year, there will be 21 treaty languages of the European Union but only 20 official working languages. Irish will be excluded. This is no longer acceptable. The Constitution states that Irish is the first official language — in some circumstances this has been upheld by the courts — and English is the second official language. If we are to follow the Constitution to the letter, Irish must become an official language of the EU. Ireland has more than proven itself since we joined the EEC in 1973. We have worked hard to embrace the ideals of European citizenship which clearly embraces and promotes linguistic diversity. We must now right the wrong done in 1973 and move at once to have Irish recognised as the 21st official language of the EU. Why should Ireland, an integral part of the European family, have a second class status in terms of recognition of our language within the EU?

The Irish language is 2,000 years old. I live about one mile from the Gaeltacht and spent 14 years trying my best to learn Irish but I still have difficulty in conversing in the language. Recognition of Irish as an official working language would give the impetus back to Irish speakers and would give confidence to our educators, who have kept the Irish language alive. This opportunity could be a watershed for the Irish language and failure to take it could have long-term negative implications which would be insurmountable. My colleagues in other parties will raise the matter with the Minister. It must be given priority during the six months of our Presidency.