Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the cost to her Department, in each year since its introduction, of implementing the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3413/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department is fully committed to the implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003. A statutory scheme outlining plans for compliance with the provisions of the Act is currently being finalised. However my Department is already fulfilling many of the requirements of the Act.

Some of the information requested by the Deputy's question is not routinely collected by my Department. The information which is currently available in relation to translation costs and the cost of advertising in Irish is set out in the table.

Some expenditure by my Department on services provided through the Irish language, cannot be readily distinguished from the overall cost of the service. This would include expenditure on the publication of this Department's entries in telephone directories and official stationery which are set out in the table below for the period from 2004 to 2008.

As I indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question 169 of 28th January 2009, the cost for the printing of Annual Reports by my Department, by the Office of the Minister for Children and the Adoption Board amounted to €30,321 in 2008. These reports and the Department's Statement of Strategy are published in both official languages.

The provision of services through the medium of Irish also arises as part of the normal day to day work of individual sections within the Department but it is not possible to isolate the associated administrative costs from the overall costs of the Department.