Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The two official languages of the State are set down in Article 8 of the Constitution as Irish and English. The Constitutional Review Group, which reported in 1996 did not advocate the addition of any further languages. Irish has the status of a treaty language in the European Union. This derives from the fact that the treaties are in Irish. In the treaties, Irish is listed as one of the languages in which the text is authentic. This means that each successive treaty is published in Irish as well as in the 11 other languages — with the text in Irish being equally authentic and having equal status to those in all the other official languages.

It has been the Government's consistent approach to take any appropriate opportunity to enhance the standing of Irish in the EU. It has done so in several respects, including the following: The Treaty of Amsterdam 1996 confirmed the right of citizens of the Union to correspond with any of the institutions in any of the treaty languages; and a declaration adopted in conjunction with the Treaty of Nice 2001 calls for a response to any such correspondence to be made within a reasonable period.

The Irish representatives at the European Convention which negotiated a draft constitutional treaty ensured that these rights will be maintained. Additionally, 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 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. The Government remains committed to its policy of monitoring developments with a view to availing itself of any appropriate opportunity that may arise to enhance the status of Irish as regards the EU. Discussions between the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to analyse the options available to us are ongoing. A working group has been established to analyse what can be achieved on this issue and the possibilities that exist to make progress.

I understand the first meeting of the working group has already taken place. I hope these discussions will identify additional opportunities to enhance the status of the Irish language in the EU within a reasonable and practicable timeframe. With the working group already in place, it would not be appropriate to accept the amendment. My advice is that the proposed amendment is not appropriate to this Bill nor is the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the relevant Minister in this regard. For those reasons, and not because I disagree with any of the sentiments expressed, I am unable to accept the amendment.