Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will seek leave to resubmit the amendments on Report Stage, which is only fair. The whole case being made by the Minister of State last week was that we are rationalising the translation facilities under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. He said that a number of translators had moved from the Department to the Houses of the Oireachtas and that they would be doing the ongoing translations. It follows, therefore, that such staff are already on the payroll and are being paid by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. They should be given the remit of translating these Bills.

It is only fair and proper that the Minister of State come back to us and outline any extra costs that might pertain. This is something that the Irish language community has been asking for. It is also something that would solve the problem of the backlog, because the Bills would be translated into Irish at the time of publication.