Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I always laugh when people refer to me as Gaeilge as an Seanadóir Eugene Murphy, but it should in fact be Eoghan. This is just a point in passing. People who speak Irish very well address me as Senator Eugene Murphy rather than an Seanadóir Eoghan.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis as an obair mhór atá déanta aige leis an mBille seo. Is cinnte gur Bille sármhaith é seo agus ba mhaith liom cúpla pointe a dhéanamh i mBéarla. Cosúil le go leor eile, níl mo chuid Gaeilge féin sách maith chun mo phointí a chur in iúl i gceart.

I compliment the Minister of State on this Bill and on his absolute commitment and dedication to the language throughout the country. This is excellent legislation. I wish to make a number of points, as Béarla, because like many others I would like my Irish to be better. In this situation, it would be better for me to make my cúpla pointe as Béarla. There is a real and urgent need for this revised legislation to ensure all State agencies co-operate in actively supporting an teanga Ghaeilge. It is our first official language which, without doubt, is at the heart of our Irish cultural heritage.For a number of years it seemed to be drifting away. I am very confident that the public is now taking a far greater interest in our teanga Ghaeilge and I am hopeful for the future. I hope it will inspire local authorities, and Departments and their agencies to actively use Irish where they can during their day and in the course of their work among staff and customers alike. I am now especially pleased that there is a requirement on Departments to employ not just an Irish language officer at one of the junior levels in the service but to ensure that at least some staff at every level, including Secretary General level, in the service are proficient in Irish.

As the Acting Chairperson will know I, mé féin, have a great interest in radio having worked for Shannonside Northern Sound for 20 years and I worked on and off for TG4 many years back. I have a concern about the amount of Irish programming across all radio stations in Ireland. Of course, Radio na Gaeltachta is the exception. Recently, we were told by the Director General of RTÉ that the output of Irish from RTÉ 1 and 2 was as low as 1%, which is very sad for our national broadcaster and I would like to see this changed immediately. There are ways to convey Irish. I think back toa clár I used to produce and present myself on Shannonside Northern Sound Radio gach Domhnach.In that programme I used English and Irish. I basically gave people a simple line to change from Gaeilge to Béarla and got a huge response. I would meet people on the streets who would say to me that they hated Irish but thanked me for giving them the option to translate a very simple line as it made the language so easy and different for them. We must always understand that one will lose people if Irish is promoted in a certain way but it can be promoted in such a way that it becomes very attractive to all. Unfortunately, no Irish is used on some local radio stations. From a licensing perspective, they were to at least acknowledge the language. I know that things are difficult for local radio stations financially and otherwise but I would like the ones that use absolutely no Irish to make an effort to do so.

The enforcement of legislation is another issue. Legislation is not much good unless it is enforced. I hope that aspect will be taken into account so that when this legislation goes through it will be enforced.

Again, I appreciate what the Minister of State does. I try to use our traditional language as much as I can. It is a lovely language and it is a pity to lose it, uair amháin bhí mé ábalta a lán Gaeilge a labhairt ach anois níl an Ghaeilge go líofa agam, go bhfóire Dia orainn, ach b'fhéidir go mbeidh mé ábalta níos mó Gaeilge a labhairt in the years ahead.