Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in view of his commitment to make early progress on the matter, he will provide an update on negotiations with the European Commission to make Irish an official language of the EU; the types of issues that are arising in the negotiations ongoing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13561/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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At the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 13 December, I outlined to my colleagues Ireland's proposal that official and working status in the EU be accorded to the Irish language. Since then, we have been working to move discussions to a successful conclusion. The EU's language regime is governed by Regulation 1 of 1958. The unanimous approval of member states is required to amend this regulation.

The discussions have been taking place with member states both in Brussels and in capitals. The EU's language regime is complex and we have endeavoured to address and clarify all the issues raised by our proposal. We believe there is a wide understanding of our case. If the status of Irish is to be enhanced along the lines of our proposal, there would be practical and financial implications for the EU translation and interpretation services. These would include the human resources aspects. The Government is continuing to press our case with the objective of reaching early agreement on our proposal which we know is supported by all sides of the House.