Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see Senator Gallagher in the hot seat today. I promise I will go easy on him.I begin by apologising to Senators Doherty and Seery Kearney for missing their contributions this morning. Having heard the contributions of other colleagues, I look forward to engaging with them on their Bill.

Earlier this week, when we debated Second Stage of the Consumer Rights Bill 2022, I indicated to the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, that I would table a number of amendments on Committee Stage of the Bill essentially seeking to make product labels bilingual. As Senators will know, in places such as Canada, Belgium and the Basque country the packaging on toothpaste, paracetamol tablets, chocolate bars and so on is bilingual and sometimes multilingual. The same applies to signs in shops, whether they are indicating where the toothpaste aisle is, where the bakery is or whatever it might be. Likewise, with ATMs throughout Europe in particular.

Given the constitutional role of the Irish language as the first language of the State and given that my proposal is a positive step forward, I ask colleagues across the House to reflect on my amendments and hopefully support them. It is a great way to platform and visualise the language across society. It is a great opportunity for learners to engage with the language and to see it out there. My proposal would be a welcome step forward and is worthy of support. I am giving a signal of intent for Committee Stage of the Consumer Rights Bill, which will take place next week. Irish language speakers and those in Gaeltacht communities are consumers too. They consume products and this Bill is about consumer rights. In the context of trying to promote the language and knowing all of the benefits that a multilingual society brings, we should see that step taken in this State.