Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost of implementing the Official Languages Act 2003 to his Department to date; the cost of implementing said Act; the progress that has been made to date in 2005 in implementing the Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30875/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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It has always been an objective of my Department to provide quality customer service in Irish. Since 2000 this approach has been augmented by the inclusion of a specific commitment to service in Irish in the existing principles of quality customer service which are in operation Civil Service-wide. To meet these objectives, the Department has implemented a number of initiatives including specialised training of staff, translation of forms and information leaflets on an incremental basis and bilingual signage.

The Official Languages Act impacts on my Department in three ways. Some elements of the Act are already in force and have direct application. These include responding to correspondence in the language in which it is written and publishing certain documents in both official languages simultaneously. There will be a range of commitments under the statutory scheme required under section 11 of the Act. At present, my Department's scheme is under consideration by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The details of certain other commitments under the Act will be contained in regulations which have not yet been introduced.

As my Department has always endeavoured to provide a quality customer service in Irish, it is not possible to separate out the cost of the Act from the cost of providing services generally in Irish. However, the costs of providing some elements of Irish service can be readily identified, as follows: specialised staff training for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 to date cost €123,345. It is estimated that a further €81,500 will be spent by the end of 2005.

In the same period, translation of forms, leaflets and other documents cost €124,247. The forms and leaflets are now available on the website of my Department while many internal documents are available electronically to all staff. It must also be acknowledged that an element of staff costs arises each year when staff who are proficient in Irish translate material as required.

The cost of advertising in Irish since 2003 amounts to €35,431. This includes the cost of placing a notice in the press in November 2004 notifying the public of the Department's intention to prepare a draft scheme and invite representations from interested parties, as required under the Act.

The provision of bilingual signage in public areas cost €103,932 over this period. In the absence of an agreed scheme and of the regulations to be introduced under the Act, it is not possible to state what the cost of implementing the Act will be. When these two requirements of the Act are introduced, the level of Irish service to customers will accelerate and consequently the costs will increase. This increased cost will be part of the delivery of public service to which all citizens are entitled.

The purpose of the Act is to achieve incremental improvements in Irish service provision across Departments and a range of other service providers. We would, therefore, expect that the services provided would grow and evolve over time. Consequently, it is difficult to say what these services would cost.