Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, and her officials to the House. Before us is a Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil. In accordance with Standing Order 103 it is deemed to have passed its First, Second and Third Stages in the Seanad and is placed on the Order Paper for Report Stage. On the question "That the Bill be received for final consideration", the Minister of State may explain the purpose of the amendment made by the Dáil. This is looked upon as the report of the Dáil amendment to the Seanad. For Senators' convenience I have arranged for the printing and circulation of this amendment. I remind Senators that the only matter that may be discussed is the amendment made by the Dáil.

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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As Senators will be aware, the Minister for Education and Science brought the University College Galway (Amendment) Bill 2005 before this House on 14 December 2005. This Bill amends the University College Galway Act 1929 to remove the requirement to appoint candidates competent in the Irish language to offices or positions in the university. It replaces this requirement with an obligation to ensure that the strategic development plan of the university contains a provision for the delivery of education through the Irish language. The president and governing authority of the university are obliged under this provision to ensure that this aim is implemented.

On Committee Stage in the Dáil on 9 February 2006 the Minister for Education and Science proposed one amendment to the wording of the published Bill. The amendment will require the university to ensure that one of its principal aims in its future strategic development plans will be the provision of education through the medium of Irish. The wording in the original Bill stated that one of the aims of the university in its future strategic development plans will be the provision of education through the medium of Irish. This amendment strengthens the original wording of the Bill in that it will now be a principal aim of the university to ensure that its strategic development plans prioritise the provision of education through the Irish language.

The university already has a long and proud tradition in the provision of Irish language courses and I am satisfied that this Bill places an adequate onus on it to ensure this continues to be the case. I am confident this amendment strikes the correct balance between the continuation of NUIG's role in the promotion of the Irish language and the need to ensure that NUIG can fulfil the role which higher education institutions are required to play in the realisation of national economic and social development.

Knowledge is international and intellectual capital is highly mobile in nature. The quality of higher education in Ireland is now measured against the highest standards across the world. In competing internationally, it is counter-productive in the extreme to place limitations on the ability of one of our key institutions to attract the best available international research or teaching talent. In that context the requirements set down by the 1929 Act are no longer relevant. They represent an outdated and unfair impediment on NUl Galway in seeking to develop international standard excellence in research and teaching. If NUl Galway is to develop to its full potential in the 21st century knowledge era, it needs to be free to attract and appoint the very best academics and researchers.

I know that NUl Galway strongly welcomes this legislation. It reflects the unique historical commitment of the college to the promotion of the language while providing it with the necessary freedoms to successfully compete in the national and international recruitment markets. It is an important piece of modernising legislation for NUl Galway. It underlines the strong commitment of the college to the promotion of our native language and reflects the progressive position of the language in the wider legislative and public policy context. I commend the Bill to the House.

Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome this Bill. It is helpful to replace the particular requirement with an obligation that the strategic development plan of the university contains a provision for the delivery of education through the Irish language. I thank the Minister of State for attending the House.

Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State and I welcome the bringing of this Bill to its conclusion in the Seanad. We were delighted to have this Bill initiated in the Seanad, and we noted on Second Stage that it represented another milestone in achievement for NUI, Galway, a very important one in the middle of the college's second strategic programme for development.

NUI Galway is very forward-looking and progressive and the obligations on it belonged to an era in the past. They were serving no useful purpose for the promotion of the Irish language or for enabling the college to reach out and realise its vision of the provision of excellence and the securing of the best talents and intellectual capacity available around the world, which will allow it to make a very worthwhile contribution to the economic and social development of this country. The university has made its mark in a very formidable way since the Act of 1929. The legislation is sensible and progressive and I am sure nobody in this House has any quibble with the amendment being introduced.

The Minister for Education and Science rightly brought forward an amendment which emphasises and puts into legislation the principal dimension of the promotion of the Irish language through NUI Galway courses and we welcome that. I thank the Minister of State and the Minister for the speedy progression of this legislation through Houses.

Joe O'Toole (Independent)
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Fáiltím roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá mé sásta tacú leis an reachtaíocht seo, ós rud é go bhfuil sí tábhachtach agus praiticiúil. Bhí an-bhrú ar an ollscoil go dtí seo ag fostú daoine mar bhí iachall orthu Gaeilge den scoth a bheith acu. Rómhinic, ní raibh an caighdeán sin Gaeilge ag daoine, go speisialta iad siúd as an iasacht agus ní raibh an ollscoil in ann postanna a thabhairt dóibh. Bhí all sorts of difficulties aici idir an dá linn agus bhí sí os comhair na cúirte níos minice ná uair amháin nuair a chuir daoine ina haghaidh.

Bhí na various Irish language groups on the east coast who are very slow to see practical approaches to the Irish language corraithe faoin mBille seo cionn is nach mbeadh tús áite ag an nGaeilge a thuilleadh in Ollscoil na Gaillimhe agus chuir sé isteach orthu. Tá seo i bhfad níos tábhachtaí don Ghaeilge ná aon rud a bhí ann roimhe seo. Go dtí anois, cé go raibh ar dhuine a bheith in ann Gaeilge a labhairt sula bhfaigheadh sé nó sí jab san ollscoil, ní raibh aon bhrú nó aon fhreagracht ina dhiaidh sin ar an gcoláiste féin an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn.

Tá sé an-tábhachtach anois go bhfuil sé mar cheann de phríomhaidhmeanna an choláiste an Ghaolainn a chur chun cinn. Is mór an trua é nach mbeadh an dearcadh praiticiúil céanna ar gach gné de pholasaí an Rialtais i dtaobh na Gaolainne. Inné sa Teach eile, bhíos ag éisteacht leis an Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, an Teachta Ó Cuív, a bhí ag cur le liosta na gcomhlachtaí a mbeadh orthu as seo amach a gcuid tuairiscí bliantúla a fhoilsiú i nGaolainn. Ba bhreá an rud é a bheith ag éisteacht leis agus a fheiceáil cé chomh tábhachtach agus a bhí sé seo. Do chuir sé isteach orm, agus bhí mé buartha go mór agus mé ag éisteacht leis. Bhí sé an-tábhachtach, de réir dealraimh, go mbeimis in ann teacht ar the National Roads Authority's tuarascáil bhlíantúil in a lovely glossy presentation ach go bhfuil sé i nGaolainn.

Ar an taobh eile den scéal, tá múinteoirí tríd an tír, i ngach cuid di, Gaeltachtaí, Galltacht agus Gaelscoileanna ina measc, ag iarraidh ceachtanna a mhúineadh gan aon téacsanna Gaolainne a bheith acu. I cannot for the life of me understand how it is more important to a Government that the National Roads Authority's report and Government strategic plans should be produced in Irish when no one cares — I will not say what was in my mind — about schools trying to teach Irish without Irish textbooks.

Bhíos ag éisteacht leis an Aire inné, agus bhí sé ag tabhairt ceacht staire dúinn ar Dingle, An Daingean, Daingean Uí Chúis, cad as a dtáinig siad, agus cé chomh tábhachtach agus a bhí siad. That is fine. Bhí ceacht staire anseo, ach tá múinteoirí ag iarraidh stair a mhúineadh do rang 6 sna bunscoileanna gan téacs Gaolainne staire a bheith ar fáil acu. That is despite the fact that cúpla bliain ó shin tugadh all sorts of geallúintí dúinn that we would establish in west Cork áis nua a chuirfeadh ar fáil téacsanna, leabhair agus gach rud a bheadh de dhíth ar mhúinteoirí agus ag teastáil uathu agus ó scoileanna chun Gaolainn a chur chun cinn.

However, it is the old story. We will do the whole glossy bit and see the National Roads Authority, the National Treasury Management Agency and the Government strategic policies publish in Irish, while no one cares that, where we are teaching in Irish, we cannot get our hands on Irish textbooks. It must be 24 times more important that we spend the money going to develop those documents on producing textbooks for primary and post-primary schools.

If we have something left over, we should invest it in the provisions of this Bill for NUI, Galway, which has as a principal aim forbairt agus cur chun cinn na Gaolainne nó whatever the actual wording is, cé chomh tábhachtach agus atá sé, agus tá an-jab ar siúl acu. They have a practical approach. They have outreach education acu siúd in áiteanna i gConamara agus, chomh maith leis sin, i dTír Chonaill, áiteanna ar féidir le daoine freastal ar chúrsaí trí mheán na Gaolainne.

Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Joe O'Toole (Independent)
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Great work is also being done elsewhere. DCU in this city, for instance, has an accountancy course trí Ghaoluinn.

That is what I want to see happen, namely, practical, sensible approaches. We must make Irish live, and it does not live on the other side of the National Roads Authority's annual report, since I do not know whether anyone will read it. I should say, before I get 24,000 telephone calls from those zealots who come back at me, that I am all for creating jobs making them available i nGaolainn, and the National Roads Authority being required to translate its report into Gaolainn. However, they can put that information up on the Internet. We need not publish it in hard copy, since it is enough if we have it available trí Ghaolainn so that the translators and designers are kept in work without our wasting money producing stuff that will never be read.

Ar an taobh eile den scéal, we see an rud atá ar siúl anseo ag an ollscoil. They understand the importance, go mórmhór uachtarán NUIG, an Dr. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh. Tuigeann sé an tábhacht a bhaineann leis sin níos fearr ná formhór mhuintir na tíre seo. An rud a chuireann isteach orm ná that we are starting at the wrong end, cé go bhfuil sé chomh tábhachtach sin, agus cé go dtacaím go mór leis. Is that not sad ar an lá a bhfuilimid anseo, when we are saying that promoting Irish should be one of the principal aims, although I totally support it? By the time students arrive at NUIG, they will have gone through primary and post-primary schools, where the teachers and management are trying to teach using English language textbooks.

I had thought that day was gone. I attended school in Dingle i lár na Gaeltachta and learned Latin through Irish from an English textbook. That is still going on. It was fine in those days when there was not a shilling around but given the amounts we are spending on other things, surely someone would say this is more important. Where is the hierarchy of importance? I could tell 24 stories about how centrally important and sensible this Bill is compared with some of the nonsense on the other side of the House.

Laistigh de mhíó shin, do chonac go raibh moladh os comhair an Rialtais ón Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, agus seans go bhfuil sé fós ann. It is his latest great plan. We have taken the most progressive move for many years and decided to recruit people from immigrant communities and newcomers into the Garda Síochána. Everyone says that we must monitor them very closely and ensure they are the right people but that it is a brilliant idea. Cad a chualamar anois ón Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta ach gur chóir iachall a chur ar gach duine acu, whether they be Chinese or whatever, that they complete a three-month intensive course in the Gaeltacht before they may be recruited into the Garda Síochána?

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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The Senator is straying from the debate.

Joe O'Toole (Independent)
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I am not.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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The Senator is certainly straying.

Joe O'Toole (Independent)
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I listened to the speeches of the Minister and the Minister of State on this Bill. The issue then was the central importance of developing Irish in education and the community. I am not straying one word from that issue. If we are to develop these ideas, we must have central people who will stand up as Gaolainn, trí Ghaolainn and le Gaolainn against zealots trying to destroy the language.

The people who are taking all of the wrong decisions on the Irish language will be enjoying their pensions before the people see the death of the language as a consequence. The decision makers will turn people against Irish while people in the Gaeltacht must put up with what is left. Everyone I know in the Gaeltacht and education who cares about the Irish language would support the Bill. It is positive because it is proactive.

One could ask a person from the west what is more important, making 100 different major public companies produce their annual reports through Irish or making Irish textbooks available. The former is more important to the Government. It is madness and I ask the Minister of State to take on board my comments. She should talk to people and let them understand what is happening. Tá sí seo an-tábhachtach. Fáiltím roimh an mBille. Beidh mé ag tacú leis.

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senators for their contributions and support for the Bill. I have noted the statements of Senator O'Toole and others. Great passion has been shown during the debate. One aspect that showed through is that the Bill is a practical approach while underlining the importance of the Irish language and promoting it.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to sit again?

Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)
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At 2.30 p.m. next Wednesday, 22 February 2006.