Written answers
Tuesday, 8 November 2005
Department of An Taoiseach
Departmental Expenditure
8:00 pm
John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 215: To ask the Taoiseach 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. [32468/05]
Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:
| Year | Training | Translation | Advertising | Bilingual Signage | Other | Total |
| â'¬ | â'¬ | â'¬ | â'¬ | â'¬ | â'¬ | |
| 2002 | 700 | 11,280.60 | 4,975.14 | None | None | 16,955.74 |
| 2003 | None | 28,245.01 | 2,179 | None | None | 30,424.01 |
| 2004 | None | 40,673.03 | 2,787 | None | None | 43,460.03 |
| Total | 700 | 80,198.64 | 9,941.14 | None | None | 98,839.78 |
The Irish language training needs of staff in the Department of the Taoiseach are predominantly met by the Centre for Management and Organisation Development, CMOD, which provides Irish courses for the public service, Gaeleagras na Seirbhíse Poiblí, the costs of which are met from the central budget.
A number of staff have participated and continue to participate in a Gaeleagras scholarship scheme. In addition, one staff member participated in a diploma in applied Irish, Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach, which was run by the department of modern Irish in UCD. The Department of the Taoiseach refund of fees scheme covered the cost of this programme of study which was €700.
In addition, there were costs associated with updating the design of the Department's website in 2003. As the redesign involved both Irish and English versions of the websites, it is not possible to extract the cost for the redesign of the Irish version only.
As the Deputy will be aware, section 11 of the Official Languages Act provides for preparation by my Department, among others, of a scheme of delivery of our services to the general public in the Irish language. In light of this, we have published a scheme with a commencement date of 1 September 2005 to ensure a higher standard and a better availability of our services through Irish. I do not expect that this scheme will give rise to significant additional costs in the future.
The following two tables outline the detailed expenditure in each of 2002, 2003 and 2004 in respect of the translation and advertising costs.
| Translation Costs | ||
| Year Translation Costs Incurred | Title of Document | Cost |
| â'¬ | ||
| 2002 | Ireland and the European Union: Identifying Priorities and Pursuing Goals | 2,240 |
| 2002 | Translation & Printing of SI 522 of 2002 (British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Act 2002 (Commencement) Order | 155.16 |
| 2002 | Strategy Statement to 31 December 2003 | 1,205.23 |
| 2002 | Telecommunications Working Group Report | 1,870.51 |
| 2002 | Grangegorman Working Group Report | 482.70 |
| 2002 | Translation into Irish of executive summary of consultation document "Towards Better Regulation" | 735 |
| 2002 | Translation of LINK Newsletters 2002 | 2,348 |
| 2002 | The Green Paper on Basic Income | 2,244 |
| 2003 | DEC Telecommunications Working Group Report | 1,870.51 |
| 2003 | Translation of LINK Newsletters 2003 | 4,299 |
| 2003 | Ireland and the European Union: Identifying Priorities and Pursuing Goals (2nd edition) | 3,313 |
| 2003 | 2001 Annual Report | 2,783 |
| 2002 Annual Report | 5,396.80 | |
| *Strategy Statement 2003-2005 | 1,885.60 | |
| 2003 | Translation of Sustaining Progress Partnership Agreement | 8,213.46 |
| 2003 | Code of Conduct for Office Holders | 483.64. |
| 2004 | Statutory Instrument 664 of 2004 Statistics (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order | 44.77 |
| 2004 | **2003 Annual Report | 4,648.65 |
| Human Resource Strategy 2003-2005 | 3,386.97 | |
| 2004 | Department Customer Charter — Charter and Customer Comment/Complaints | 408.18 |
| Procedure. The Charter was published bilingually | 6,912.75 | |
| 2004 | Translation of lunch & dinner invitation on the occasion of the Irish Presidency eGovernment Conference | 60.50 |
| 2004 | Invitation — IFSC Lunch hosted by the Taoiseach | 48.40 |
| 2004 | Invitation re European Year of People with Disabilities | 48.40 |
| 2004 | Menu — IFSC Lunch hosted by the Taoiseach | 48.40 |
| 2004 | Invitation — Special Olympics Supporter Breakfast | 48.40 |
| 2004 | Translation services for Presidential Inauguration | 60.50 |
| 2004 | Translation services for Presidential Inauguration invitations | 60.50 |
| 2004 | Booklet — National Day of Commemoration | 60.50 |
| 2004 | Departmental Legislation Website | 484.48 |
| 2004 | Mid-Term Review of Part Two of Sustaining Progress — Pay and the Workplace | 817.17 |
| 2004 | Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution's notice inviting submissions on Family Rights | 50.00 |
| 2004 | Translation of LINK newsletters 2004 | 6,994 |
| 2004 | Translation of Progress Report on the Programme for Government | 15,277.46 |
| 2004 | Translation into Irish of executive summary of White Paper on Better Regulation | 1,213 |
| *There are printing costs associated with printing the strategy statement in both Irish and English but as this was a combined Irish-English document it is not possible to extract the printing cost for the Irish version only. | ||
| **There are printing costs associated with printing the annual report in both Irish and English but as this was a combined Irish-English document it is not possible to extract the printing cost for the Irish version only. |
| Advertising Costs | ||
| Year Advertising Costs Incurred | Nature of Costs | Cost |
| â'¬ | ||
| 2002 | Advertisement in Iris Oifigiúil in Irish (British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Act 2002 (Commencement) Order | 17.14 |
| 2002 | Advertising in Iris Oifigiúil | 4,958 |
| 2003 | Advertising in Iris Oifigiúil | 2,179 |
| 2004 | Advertising in Iris Oifigiúil | 2,787 |
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