Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 248: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the percentage of the staff of his Department able to provide services through Irish; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14182/06]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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At present, at least 15% of the staff of my Department are able to provide services through Irish. This percentage does not include the staff of the National Archives who form part of my Department but which is designated as a separate public body in the First Schedule to the Official Languages Act 2003.

The main focus for staff is the provision of verbal services through Irish to telephone callers and personal callers to the Department. While some staff provide services concerning written correspondence and documents in Irish, translation is provided in the main by external translation services.

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department is one of the early movers under the decentralisation programme and as a result there are ongoing changes in staff in my Department to facilitate the transfer of staff wishing to decentralise to Killarney. The percentage of staff able to provide services through Irish is therefore subject to ongoing change.