David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 40, to delete lines 10 to 35.

I welcome the Minister back to the House. It will come as no surprise to him that I oppose any attempt to hollow out the Official Languages Act. This is a breach of fundamental rights, language rights and, I would contend, a breach of the Constitution.

Under Article 8.1 of the Constitution, Irish is the first official language. It has further protection under other articles of the Constitution. Article 25.4.4° states that an official translation shall be provided for legal reasons, Article 24.4.5° states that where both texts, Irish and English, are enrolled in Supreme Court, that is considered conclusive evidence of such law being in force and Article 25.4.6° states that where there is a conflict between both languages, the first official language shall prevail. It is surely repugnant to the spirit, if not the letter, of the Constitution that an Act can dilute the provisions for the language in the manner of this Bill, especially as Irish is the first official language of the State.

It is obvious to me there can be simultaneous translation of the legislation. I do not know why we must wait for a period for the legislation to be translated.

Is this a cost issue, because I see the cost as being the same. Will the Minister outline the reasons because there have been examples where we have had to wait for a translation and it took months if not years for the translation of some documents. My understanding is that the translations can be done at a relatively reasonable cost if done on a simultaneous basis. I do not understand why that cannot be done. Again, this is an attempt by the IMF and the ECB to dictate to the people of Ireland what we should do. It is fundamentally important that something as important as our language is protected. As the Minister will know I opposed the IMF-ECB deal in its entirety but for this bailout to be used to dilute the relevance and place of the Irish language in the Constitution is an absolute disgrace and an affront to the people.

There has been a great deal of discussion over the past number of months if not years about the potential loss of Irish sovereignty and the fact the IMF-ECB deal in itself resulted in a loss of sovereignty. To have our language diluted and treated in this way at the behest of the IMF in order to rush through material is completely unacceptable. If the matter is put to a vote I will be supporting motions Nos. 15 and 16 tabled by other Senators rather than our motion No. 14, because the intent is the same. It is important we defend the Irish language. I cannot see the reason that the translation cannot take place at the same time and I ask the Minister to respond to those concerns.