David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 426: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the languages for which his Department or persons contracted by his Department provides translation services; the average amount of time it takes for a translation to be completed; the average amount of time by which the processing of claims were delayed in 2007 as a result of translations being required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6857/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Translation services are provided for all languages and the majority of requests relate to supporting documentation for use in claims processing. The Department of Foreign Affairs provides a translation service for a number of EU languages. Requests for all other languages are sent to translation companies. In 2007 over 1,100 documents required translation into a number of different languages excluding Irish.

Response times can vary depending on the number of requests on hand at that time and the language required. The average time for translations completed in 2007 was approximately six weeks. The impact of translation time can vary but in the main does not lead to undue delay in processing claims.

My Department makes every effort to source the translation of documents as quickly as possible in order to avoid any delays.