Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Do Irish-speaking members of the public not have a right to receive the Irish language version of the Bill? It is not just a question of law or adhering to the Official Languages Act, it is also a question of adhering to the Constitution and the fundamental law and culture of the State. My understanding is that this happened only once during the term of the previous Government and in that case it involved a particularly rushed Finance Bill. The Minister of State has come to the House and blamed the number of Committee Stage amendments agreed to in the Dáil, but the Government amendments were available last week and if she is blaming the Opposition, I remind her that most of ours were only submitted today and yesterday when the Minister's amendments were submitted. Therefore, we will not accept the blame. We will not accept this practice on an ongoing basis. As I said, it happened only once in the term of the previous Government. I think it happened in the case of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill last week. I stand to be corrected on that point, but certainly a reference was made by the Minister. It is absolutely unacceptable that this practice should become routine. The timetable is being chopped and changed and major legislation to deal with the deficit is being rushed through.

The Minister for public expenditure and reform may well become known as the Minister for cuts because his first decision is to cut out the Irish language, which is outrageous. Senator Katherine Zappone spoke yesterday about the social wealth of the country, but we also have to think about its cultural wealth, of which the language is part. It is a constitutional obligation to have legislation published in the official languages of the State. No other country is unable to publish legislation in its official language. I will not put all of the blame on the Department because I understand part of the reason has to do with the fact that the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has not been established, although I stand to be corrected on this point.

Fianna Fáil will not accept the amendment. When in government, it introduced the Official Languages Act which has had a positive effect. The people have a right to have their laws promulgated and published in the official languages. Nobody, therefore, should accept the amendment. It is not good enough. This legislation has been delayed already and there has been pressure exerted to have translations completed. The reason most of the amendments were tabled on Committee Stage in the Dáil, which doubled the size of the Bill, was the Government did not know what was happening. We have to rush through this Bill to allow for the division of responsibilities in the coalition Government. It is a political arrangement that is being turned into law, and the first to be sacrificed is the language, which is completely unacceptable.