Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 124: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will provide an estimate on the approximate cost accruing to the State in order to comply with regulations and requirements under the Official Languages Act 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30686/05]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As I have indicated in response to previous similar questions in this House, no formal costings have been done in regard to the full implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003 on the basis that such an exercise would not be useful or practicable in advance of consideration on a case-by-case basis by each public body of what, if any, specific additional costs might arise for it. It is clear that there will be some cost issues involved, particularly at start-up, but in the normal course these should in the main be met from within existing administrative allocations.

The Act is being implemented on a planned and pragmatic basis. Clearly, some costs will arise in connection with such matters as training and translation services. However, the position for individual public bodies, or indeed on an overall basis, cannot be established until individual schemes have been agreed in accordance with the legislation. In this regard, as the Deputy will be aware, I have confirmed a number of such schemes during 2005. These schemes take a pragmatic and realistic approach to the provision of improved services through Irish, and they also take account of the ability of the public bodies to deliver improved services within the existing human and financial resources available to them. As is the case with the commitments contained in my own Department's scheme, the commitments contained in these schemes are being delivered from within the overall budget available to the public bodies concerned in the relevant years and do not create any significant extra costs.

Circumstances will vary greatly from public body to public body in regard to demand for delivery of services through Irish. Indeed, some public bodies will be better placed than others in regard to having the resources to meet this demand, given that they already operate, to varying degrees, a policy of bilingualism. It is, however, a matter for each public body in the first instance to ensure that resources are assigned in order to comply with the provisions of this particular legislation in the same way as resources are assigned to ensure compliance with obligations imposed by other legislation and by the requirements to provide quality customer service.

The question of providing funding for specific administrative costs for individual public bodies, regardless of whether these relate to the Official Languages Act or any other service delivery or policy obligation arising, falls to be assessed against formal business cases or proposals submitted as part of the normal annual estimate and budget cycle. Given the position of Irish as the first constitutional language, the objective is to ensure that delivery of public services by public bodies, including provision of information about services and activities through the Irish language, is seen as a normal requirement to meet good standards of customer service and corporate governance, rather than an optional extra or add-on.