Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that documents from the Institute of Public Administration show that relatively small numbers of officials were deemed capable of or felt willing to transact business through Irish in their Departments that have already agreed a language scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30719/05]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Officials of my Department work on a regular basis with Foras na Gaeilge and other interested parties, including the Institute of Public Administration, IPA, and Gaeleagras na Seirbhísí Poiblí, in order to put in place resources and systems to help public bodies improve, over time, both the level and standard of services they provide to the general public through the Irish language. In this context, I was delighted to officially launch, earlier this month, two specialised courses which have been developed by the IPA.

With regard to recent reports in the media in relation to compliance by Departments with the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003, I am assured that any impression given that the view of the IPA is that there could be an unwillingness in Departments and other public bodies to provide services through Irish is not correct. On the contrary, the IPA has made it very clear to my Department that its experience shows enthusiastic support for getting the arrangements in place to provide bilingual services for the public. While a number of public bodies report a lack of proficiency or confidence among staff in dealing with queries in Irish, the facts are that some 250 officials from across the public service have attended IPA seminars or courses in respect of the Act's requirements and the response to the courses has been most encouraging.

As the Deputy is no doubt aware, the Official Languages Act 2003 works in two ways. First, there are certain provisions that apply directly to all public bodies. Second, there are the statutory schemes that all public bodies must, when requested to do so by me, as Minister, draw up and submit for agreement. In this context, it must be clearly understood, as I have stated repeatedly, that some organisations in the public sector have limited capabilities and resources from the point of view of providing services through Irish at present. Consequently, the schemes that I have approved to date take a pragmatic and realistic approach to the provision of improved services through Irish, and also take account of the ability of the public bodies to deliver improved services within the existing human and financial resources available to them.

The agreed schemes also show what each public body is going to do to ensure that any services not currently provided by the body through Irish will be provided over the longer term. The Act therefore incorporates a planning mechanism to ensure that the constitutional rights of Irish speakers to obtain public services through Irish are met. As I have often said in the past and wish to reiterate again today, the implementation of the Act is a long-term planning project to be pursued in line with the resources available to public bodies and the demand for services through Irish from the public.