Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuilimid ag machnamh ar an gceist seo anocht — stádas na Gaeilge san Aontas Eorpach. Agus táimid ag plé na ceiste taobh istigh de réim úr i stair na hEorpa — an conradh bunreachtúil nua atá faoi chaibidil i láthair na huaire, an fairsingiú a bheidh ann ag tús Bealtaine agus deich dtír úr ag teacht isteach san Aontas, agus, dar ndóigh, Uachtaránacht an Aontais a bheith againn anseo in Éirinn faoi láthair.

I join those Senators whose Irish did not match the beautifully spoken Irish I heard tonight from many Senators. Níl sí agam ón gcliabhán, mar a deirtear, ach cosúil leis an Seanadóir Michael Kitt, is as Gaillimh mé agus nuair a bhí ag éisteacht leis an Seanadóir Ó Murchú agus Baill eile bhí sé go hálainn. I will continue as Béarla, but, like Senator Ormonde, that does not lessen my interest in the language or in this debate. Perhaps it is time for people like me to go back to Connemara, which I plan to do. This debate highlights the need for all of us to continue to improve our Irish.

The debate was a good one, as are all debates on important issues in this House. I am always privileged to be here. I listened carefully to the points made and I will do my utmost to clarify the Government's position. Some questions were raised which I will try to address.

I confirm to the House that it remains the Government's policy to monitor developments with a view to availing itself of any appropriate opportunity which may arise to enhance the status of Irish in the European Union. The Government is committed to continuing with this policy. To that end. there are ongoing discussions between my Department and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. We are analysing all the options available to us and, in pursuit of that, we will enter into further discussions at an early date.

Senator O'Toole asked about the background to this debate. Many Members and those who are here to listen to the debate are aware of the history behind this issue. The status of Irish in the European Union was determined by a letter of 23 July 1971 from the then Minister for Foreign Affairs to the President of the European Council outlining the Government's views and by the Community's response to that letter, which is reflected in the accession treaty. The draft constitutional treaty under consideration at the Intergovernmental Conference would fully maintain that position. The position is that the Irish language has the status of a treaty language in the European Union. That derives from the fact that the treaties are published in Irish and that in the treaties Irish is listed as one of the languages in which the text is authentic. Each successive treaty is published in Irish as well as in the 11 other languages, with the texts in Irish having equivalent authenticity and status with those in all other languages.

Article 217 of the EC treaty provides for the establishment of the Union's language regime. The Article stipulates that:

The rules governing the languages of the Institutions of the Community shall, without prejudice to the provisions contained in the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, be determined by the Council acting unanimously.

On the basis of this Article, Regulation 1-1958 establishes the official and working languages of the Union, which do not include Irish. The status of the Irish language in the EU is unique. It is not one of the 11 official and working languages of the institutions. However, the provision made for the publication of the treaties in an authentic Irish language version confers a particular Union status which sets Irish apart from, for example, Luxembourgish, which has no Union status. The IGC discussions on the draft treaty, and the discussions at the Convention which preceded the IGC, were not an appropriate forum for debate on enhancing the status of Irish. The "working languages" regime of the EU is dealt with in secondary law, in this case through Council Regulation 1-1958. The IGC discussions concern treaty change which is a matter of primary legislation. Nevertheless, the treaty status of the Irish language and the rights established in the Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice respectively, will be fully maintained in the new treaty. The Treaty of Amsterdam confirmed the right of citizens of the Union to correspond with any of the institutions in any of the treaty languages. A declaration adopted in conjunction with the Treaty of Nice calls for a response to any such correspondence to be made within a reasonable period. These steps represented positive and practical moves forward for Irish which is the only language, apart from those specified in Council Regulation 1-1958, to which these rights apply.

In 2002 the European Commission recommended in the enlargement negotiations that each of the national languages of the ten accession countries be made an official and working language. This was agreed in the accession negotiations. Consequently, with the accession of ten new member states, nine more languages will be recognised as official and working languages on 1 May 2004. The accession treaty 2003 includes a provision automatically modifying Council Regulation 1-1958. The Commission will not, therefore, ask the Council separately to amend the regulation. Any alteration in the official status of the Irish language, or any other language, other than the provisions resulting directly from the enlargement negotiations, would have to come about through an amendment to Regulation 1-1958 using the normal procedures provided in the EC treaty. This would include a Commission proposal to this effect, as several Senators said. Ireland has ratified the accession treaty, having deposited its instrument of ratification on 18 December 2003. Half of the instruments of ratification have already been deposited. The question of re-opening the terms of the accession treaty does not arise for Ireland or any other member state.

The Commission's proposal during the accession negotiations in May 2002, to recognise Maltese as an authentic language of the treaties and an official and working language used by the EU institutions has been the focus of recent attention and was mentioned here tonight. The Commission proposed this on the basis, inter alia, that the Maltese language is used by all Maltese institutions, including the parliament, the government and the courts, as well as for administrative purposes, and it is the mother tongue of almost all Maltese people.

The detailed practical consequences of enlargement for the Union's interpretation regime for official negotiations concluded in December 2003 under the Italian Presidency. Member states considered many approaches for the conduct of future meetings in a Union of 25. An underlying theme of the discussions was that the Union needs to streamline its interpretation regime. However, there was an equally strong sense that the full participation of member states in running the Union, and taking decisions in which they are entitled to share, should be facilitated. The outcome of negotiations broadly preserved this important balance. On a separate issue, many of our partners regard member states, most of whose citizens have English as their spoken tongue, as distinctly privileged by the arrangements in place.

The approach agreed by member states entails an increased number of working group meetings in Brussels taking place without any interpretation provision. In practice these groups, which will meet at official level, will work in English and French only. This new regime limits the number of working groups which will have full interpretation services and will put a system of payment for interpretation services in place for the remainder of working groups. This agreement, which has been finalised, is limited to existing official and working languages for which the personnel and infrastructure are in place.

There have also been calls on the Government to request the Commission and the Council of Ministers to amend Regulation 1-1958 which establishes the official and working languages of the Union. The normal procedure for the amendment of secondary law, such as Regulation 1-1958, requires that any proposal for amendment must be made by the Commission. In other words, for the status of Irish to be changed, the Commission would have to propose to the Council an appropriate amendment of the regulation and the Council would have to agree this unanimously. In making any proposal, the Commission could be expected to draw on the considerations it has applied in the past and the member states would expect a consistent approach.

The Government has consistently taken any appropriate opportunity to enhance the standing of Irish in the European Union, and has achieved this in several respects, including the following: the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1996 confirmed the right of citizens of the Union to correspond with any of the institutions in any of the treaty languages; a declaration adopted in conjunction with the Treaty of Nice in 2001 calls for a response to any such correspondence to be made within a reasonable period; and the Irish representatives at the European Convention which negotiated the draft constitutional treaty ensured that these rights will be maintained. Furthermore, at our request, an Irish language version of the draft constitutional treaty agreed at the European Convention was also prepared. LINGUA, the Union's programme for the promotion of language teaching and learning, recognises the Irish language for its projects. Most recently, and this was mentioned this evening, the Government has taken steps to enhance the standing of the Irish language in the context of the reform of the staff regulations for EU officials. Under revised staff regulations due to be agreed shortly, and as a result of an Irish initiative a new requirement for officials to demonstrate before their first promotion the ability to work in a third language extends not only to official and working languages but also to Irish. In this regard, Irish is the only language that is not an official and working language which will be taken into account. This will mean that officials who reach the required standard in Irish can directly benefit in terms of promotional prospects.

The Government remains fully willing to build on these advances and to take practical steps as appropriate. Further discussions between Departments will take place in this spirit and will result, I hope, in the identification of additional opportunities to enhance the status of Irish in the European Union. It could take some time to identify such steps and explore them with the EU institutions, although I wish to advance this as quickly as possible. I take careful note of the debate here but caution Senators that it is unrealistic to expect concrete outcomes during our Presidency. However, by setting realistic goals and demonstrating their practical purposes, we can make the most credible case for the enhancement of the status of the Irish language in the EU.

Various Senators made very strong cases here tonight in beautiful Irish and I thank them for that. I have listened carefully to the points made which I will note to ensure that they are included in the discussions between my Department and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. I thank the Senators for a very timely and useful debate. Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht seo. Leiríonn sé an spéis atá againn uile sa teanga. Tá súil agam go mbeimid in ann an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a chur an chinn chomh luath agus is féidir.