John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 391: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the expenditure by his Department on providing services through the Irish language in each of the years 2002, 2003 and 2004; and the breakdown of the expenditure under training, translation, advertising, bilingual signage and other. [32473/05]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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It has been my Department's policy since its establishment in mid-2002 to facilitate the public and staff who wish to use the Irish language. Even prior to the enactment of the Official Languages Act 2003, my Department has made every effort to make all key publications and leaflets available in both Irish and English and the Department's stationery is in bilingual form. It is also general departmental policy to place advertisements in both languages.

As the use of Irish is treated as an integral part of the service provided by my Department, it would not be possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the amount of money my Department has spent in the years 2002 to 2004 on the Irish language.

As the Deputy is aware, my Department's scheme under the Official Languages Act which covers the period 2005 to 2008 came into effect on 1 July 2005. The additional costs directly associated with the implementation of this scheme are now being identified and in this regard I refer the Deputy to my response to a question tabled by him on 25 October.