Written answers

Tuesday, 24 April 2007

Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Official Languages Act

11:00 pm

Photo of Paul KehoePaul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 684: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount of money that has been spent by the various Government Departments in implementing the Official Languages Act 2003 since its introduction; his views on whether the money could be better spent providing text books and examination material for the 40,000 students currently attending gaelscoileanna and gaelcholáistí in the State. [14607/07]

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Firstly, in relation to the general issue of costs, as I have indicated previously in response to Parliamentary Questions no formal costings have been done with regard to the full implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003 on the basis that such an exercise would not be feasible in advance of consideration on a case-by-case basis by each public body, including Government Departments, of what, if any, specific costs might arise for it.

It is clear, however, that there are some cost issues involved, particularly at start-up, but in the normal course these should be met from within existing administrative allocations. In that context, I should point out that the information to hand with regard to the issue of costs relates to the costs incurred by all Departments, as well as the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Office of Public Works, in publishing bilingually documents covered under section 10 of the Official Languages Act during 2005. The total cost for all of those Departments/Offices of publishing such documents amounted to some €343,000. It should be noted that it had been the practice of a number of Departments to publish certain key documents bilingually prior to the enactment of the Act. This commitment on the part of Departments in some cases arose from the Quality Customer Service Initiative.

Secondly, it is important to reiterate that it is a matter for each public body in the first instance to ensure that sufficient resources are available in order to comply with the provisions of this particular legislation in the same way as resources are made available to ensure compliance with obligations imposed by other pieces of legislation and by the requirement to provide Quality Customer Service. Any question of funding for specific administrative costs for individual public bodies — regardless of whether these relate to the Official Languages Act or any other service delivery or policy obligation arising — would fall to be assessed against formal business cases or proposals submitted as part of the normal annual estimate and budget cycle.

Given its position as the first constitutional language, the objective is to ensure that delivery of public services by public bodies through the Irish language is seen as normal and required to meet minimum standards of customer service and corporate governance, rather than an optional extra or add-on. The Official Languages Act provides a planning mechanism by which constitutional obligations can be met over time in a planned and coherent way.

I do not accept as suggested in the question by the Deputy that resources devoted to the implementation of the Act would otherwise be available from the various agencies and Departments to provide support materials for students engaged in Irish-medium education.

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