Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Great work is also being done elsewhere. DCU in this city, for instance, has an accountancy course trí Ghaoluinn.

That is what I want to see happen, namely, practical, sensible approaches. We must make Irish live, and it does not live on the other side of the National Roads Authority's annual report, since I do not know whether anyone will read it. I should say, before I get 24,000 telephone calls from those zealots who come back at me, that I am all for creating jobs making them available i nGaolainn, and the National Roads Authority being required to translate its report into Gaolainn. However, they can put that information up on the Internet. We need not publish it in hard copy, since it is enough if we have it available trí Ghaolainn so that the translators and designers are kept in work without our wasting money producing stuff that will never be read.

Ar an taobh eile den scéal, we see an rud atá ar siúl anseo ag an ollscoil. They understand the importance, go mórmhór uachtarán NUIG, an Dr. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh. Tuigeann sé an tábhacht a bhaineann leis sin níos fearr ná formhór mhuintir na tíre seo. An rud a chuireann isteach orm ná that we are starting at the wrong end, cé go bhfuil sé chomh tábhachtach sin, agus cé go dtacaím go mór leis. Is that not sad ar an lá a bhfuilimid anseo, when we are saying that promoting Irish should be one of the principal aims, although I totally support it? By the time students arrive at NUIG, they will have gone through primary and post-primary schools, where the teachers and management are trying to teach using English language textbooks.

I had thought that day was gone. I attended school in Dingle i lár na Gaeltachta and learned Latin through Irish from an English textbook. That is still going on. It was fine in those days when there was not a shilling around but given the amounts we are spending on other things, surely someone would say this is more important. Where is the hierarchy of importance? I could tell 24 stories about how centrally important and sensible this Bill is compared with some of the nonsense on the other side of the House.

Laistigh de mhíó shin, do chonac go raibh moladh os comhair an Rialtais ón Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, agus seans go bhfuil sé fós ann. It is his latest great plan. We have taken the most progressive move for many years and decided to recruit people from immigrant communities and newcomers into the Garda Síochána. Everyone says that we must monitor them very closely and ensure they are the right people but that it is a brilliant idea. Cad a chualamar anois ón Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta ach gur chóir iachall a chur ar gach duine acu, whether they be Chinese or whatever, that they complete a three-month intensive course in the Gaeltacht before they may be recruited into the Garda Síochána?