Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 383: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount his Department has spent to date in 2005 on the implementation of the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003; his estimate of the amount which his Department will spend on the implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003 for the full year in 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24013/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As indicated in a previous reply, it has always been an objective of my Department to aim to provide quality customer service in Irish. This includes provision for translation of forms, leaflets and other documents; training of staff in spoken and written Irish and providing bilingual signage in public areas.

To date in 2005, €8,504 has been spent on Irish translation, €3,176 on Irish advertising and €30,173 on bilingual signage. It is estimated that expenditure on Irish training in 2005 will be €131,000 and €64,500 on bilingual signage. It is not possible at this stage to give an estimate of the final 2005 cost of translating Department documents into Irish or the cost of advertising in Irish.

The total budget for all translation in 2005 is €100,000 and €500,000 for all advertising. It is difficult to separate the portion in respect of Irish from costs generally as the cost of the Irish element is, in many instances, included in the total cost and cannot be separately identified.