Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ag an am deireannach seo. Táim thar a bheith buíoch dó faoin am a thógáil le bheith linn. Bhí mé ag Oireachtas na Gaeilge i gCill Áirne ag an deireadh seachtaine - ócáid mhór na Gaeilge ag a mbíonn pobal na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta ar fad bailithe le chéile. Bhí borradh mór faoin ócáid ar fad, ach bhí an-díomá le braith freisin ag an ócáid chéanna maidir le cinneadh a ghlac comhleacaí an Aire Stáit, an tAire Howlin, an tseachtain seo caite maidir leis an coimhneas atá ann ó thaobh daoine atá ag obair sa Státseirbhís.

I attended the Oireachtas na Samhna festival in Kerry last weekend. It is the largest Irish language festival. It was a very good festival and there was a good buzz. However, that was dampened to a great extent by an announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, last week that there will be a change in the way people will be recruited to the civil and public service. Many suggestions have been made over the last number of years regarding how to improve the number of people in the civil and public service who can do their business as Gaeilge and support the communities around the country who wish to do that. The decision taken by the Government was wholeheartedly condemned by almost everybody I spoke to at the festival. These are people who are trying to avail of these services on a daily basis.

A number of people have made strong statements on the decision. An Coimisinéir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, who has a huge amount of expertise and has spoken on this issue and written about it in many of his reports, stated the new system would be an absolute disaster, teip tubaisteach, as regards trying to increase the number of Irish speakers in these services. It will push Béarla éigeantach don phobal lena gnóthaí a dhéanamh leis an Stát. It is compulsory English for Irish speakers if they wish to engage with the State. Conradh na Gaeilge has said that there was a golden opportunity here for the Government to do something positive. It is widely accepted that we must increase the number of people who can do their daily work through the medium of Irish.

It is suggested that 6% of people recruited to the public service will have to be Irish speakers. How did the Minister arrive at that figure? There does not appear to have been any research conducted in recent years that would suggest a figure of 6%. I have read a number of reports on the Irish language in the last few years and this does not appear to have been a suggestion by any of the experts in this area. This figure is not in the Government's 20 year strategy for the Irish language, which is supposed to be the blueprint for increasing the number of Irish speakers in the State to 250,000 over that period.

What research has been done on this decision? Has the figure been plucked out of the air? Who arrived at it? Is there a plan for how the 6% will be deployed in the different Departments? In the Department of Education and Skills, for example, which is one of the key Departments for promoting the Irish language, if one removes teachers from the equation only 3% of the people working in the administration side of the Department can do their business through the medium of Irish. That is a huge reduction from the position in the Department previously. In addition, we have seen with numerous reports from the Language Commissioner in the last number of years a certain belligerence on the part of some Government Departments in respect of engaging with people and taking on board his recommendations for providing their services through the medium of Irish. Who will be in charge of this new plan? From where did the plan emerge? On what research is it based? Has some socioeconomic or linguistic research been carried out to support that figure and explain why it is being used? Who will be in charge of the implementation and how will the figure be divided across different Departments? Will there be priority Departments that deliver front-line services in Gaeltacht areas, for example, and to Irish speaking communities at which it will be targeted?

People in the Irish language community think this decision is an absolute disgrace. They see no merit in it and believe it will be hugely detrimental to the provision of services. They also believe it is contradictory to the Government's 20 year strategy to promote the Irish language. We call for it to be reviewed and for the Government to return to the recommendations in the 20 year strategy and to implement them fully. Táim ag súil go mór le freagra an Aire Stáit ar seo agus tá súil agam go dtabharfaidh sé léargas dúinn ar cén córas cinntireachta atá ag an Rialtas agus ag an Aire Howlin agus é ag cur an cinneadh seo i bhfeidhm.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I apologise that the Minister, Deputy Howlin, is unable to come to the House to address the issue this evening.

The policy of awarding bonus marks for Irish language proficiency in Civil Service competitions was introduced following the abolition of compulsory Irish in the 1970s. In developing pragmatic policies in support of Irish language proficiency to replace the existing legacy policy, the Minister was guided by a public policy imperative to develop a coherent set of measures that support service delivery through Irish in the 21st century. In formulating the new policy the Minister was conscious that the bonus marks scheme was not, in practice, achieving its policy objective. The uptake of the scheme was low and those awarded bonus marks were not being utilised to provide services through Gaeilge.

The Minister's focus since taking office has been on driving change and reform across the public service to make it better performing and more fit for purpose. In this context, we are rolling out more strategic workforce planning policies to ensure the right people are in the right place to deliver effective policy initiatives and support efficient service delivery. Within this overarching policy, Irish language proficiency policy for the Civil Service has been refocused to provide more meaningful and effective services through Irish. The Government's implementation plan for the 20-year strategy for the Irish language 2010-2030 includes measures aimed at building capacity in the provision of Irish language services in the Civil Service. The workforce planning process will be amended to require Departments and Government offices to identify posts and areas of work requiring staff who are functional bilinguals.

We have now given practical effect to the commitments in the measures to support Irish language proficiency in the Civil Service that were unveiled last week. The policy includes provision for a sub-panel of functional bilinguals equal to 6% of the main panel for future recruitment and, where appropriate, promotion competitions. Successful candidates from the main competition panel will be tested on the basis of a rigorous written and oral Irish test. Successful candidates must be able to provide a full range of services to customers, and internally within Departments, in Irish, and will be designated for that purpose for a period of time. We will pilot this approach in the upcoming executive officer competition to assess demand for functional bilinguals across Departments. If demand exists, the scheme will be applied to future competitions.

The shift from the policy of awarding bonus marks for Irish in competitions - which demonstrably did not achieve the required policy outcome - to an approach that puts in place a panel of functional bilinguals for deployment across the system is designed to renew and strengthen Irish language proficiency across the Civil Service. We see scope for greater linkages between the Irish language schemes and strategic workforce planning so as to ensure Departments clearly identify the need, if any, for service delivery through Irish in a structured way. This more targeted and direct approach acknowledges, in a tangible way, the continued importance of service provision through Irish.

In tandem with the functional bilingual policy, there is an ongoing need for an Irish language training and proficiency assessment regime for existing civil servants. The service level agreement between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht supports capacity building and provides a practical mechanism to support Irish language training services and proficiency testing.

In conclusion, resourcing policy for the Irish language must have a greater competency-based focus. The new measures represent a very real improvement and go a long way towards achieving this outcome. The legacy policy was not providing service delivery in Irish, and the measures agreed last week are the first step on the road to a more realistic and coherent policy in this area. The policy is intended to meet our stated commitment under the 20-year strategy and to create a supply of functional bilinguals for deployment across the Civil Service in the medium to longer term.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit. We would all agree that the previous method was not working, but it is also true that the Minister of State's Department did not actually implement that scheme. In fact, several outstanding cases in this regard have been taken by the Coimisinéir Teanga. The scheme was never going to work if it was not implemented.

The Minister of State provided a great deal of information in his reply without actually responding to the question I asked. He stated in his conclusion that "resourcing policy for the Irish language must have a greater competency-based focus". On the basis of what research did the Department arrive at the 6% figure? My concern is that there does not seem to be any basis for the new policy in theory or existing research. Nobody in the Irish language sector knows where the 6% figure came from, why this policy has been accepted and with whom it was discussed. There certainly was no discussion with any of the stakeholders; rather, the figure in question seems to have been plucked out of the air.

The Irish language community has very little faith that the new scheme will work. It is in not in alignment with the 20-year strategy in any way, sense or form. There is also the issue that Departments are not implementing the schemes they are supposed to be implementing. I have less faith in the scheme now than I did before I asked the question, because I see no basis for the decision that was made and no backup for the Minister of State's assertions.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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There is all-party agreement on the 20-year strategy. We all accept the necessity for it. We will, of course, have regard to any comments made by the coimisinéir in terms of the policy the Minister, Deputy Howlin, has outlined.

The key issue for people who transact their business through Gaeilge is the capacity to speak to people who have the language. The point the Minister made in his remarks last week, in setting out the new policy, is that the previous policy in terms of bonus points for Irish was not achieving that objective. We have, therefore, decided to try something different, albeit by way of a pilot scheme. The objective is to assess, in a more effective way, the requirements within the public sector for people to speak the language and to ensure we have those people in place. There are two basic requirements here. The first is that we have people who are skilled in the language and can deal with the public in a competent way. Second, those staff must also be competent to work within Departments to fulfil the objectives set out in the policy in terms of documentation and other requirements. The previous policy did not work in any shape or form and it is right and proper that we should seek to reform it.