Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will he carry out an evaluation of the implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27945/07]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Firstly, I would like once more to reiterate that, notwithstanding the perception in the media and elsewhere, the Official Languages Act does not require that all official documents have to be translated into Irish. On the contrary, only a very limited number of key documents produced by public bodies currently require translation into Irish under the Act. These comprise official Annual Reports and Accounts of public bodies and major policy statements such as White Papers, Green Papers, Statements of Strategy, etc. Translation does not apply across the board to consultative documents and other reports in general.

The documents that require translation are all key documents by which public bodies are accountable to the general public, to their specific customers and to the Oireachtas in relation to how they have discharged their public functions in the previous year, or propose to do so in the future. There are two official languages spoken in this State and it seems to me — as it did to all parties in this House when we debated this Act as a Bill — right and proper that documents of this nature should be available to the citizen in both languages. Indeed, I would make the point that when we debated the Bill in the House I was requested, but declined, to accept amendments that would have widened quite considerably the range of documents subject to the automatic simultaneous publication obligation.

Clearly, the cost of translation is only a proportion of the total cost of producing such documents and, more importantly, in the context of the overall administrative budgets available to the vast majority of public bodies, represents a fairly insignificant cost element. However, translation costs tend to be particularly visible as many public bodies do not appear to have translation capacity in-house and external expertise has to be bought in.

The Deputy will be aware that my Department, in association with Foras na Gaeilge, has brought forward a number of initiatives — including the accreditation system for translators and the provision of on-line resources — to assist public bodies in dealing with the translation requirements under the Act in the most effective manner possible. This work will continue.

In general terms, as I have outlined on a number of occasions in this House, I am satisfied that considerable progress has been made to date in the implementation, on a phased basis, of the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003. The work of implementing the Act is being kept under continuing review by my Department but I would stress once again the long-term and phased nature of the project.