Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 287: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the cost to his Department, in each year since its introduction, of implementing the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3412/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In the time available it is not possible to collate all the costs, direct and indirect, associated with the implementation of the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003 since its introduction. For instance, my Department's expenditure on printing of material in Irish cannot be readily distinguished from overall costs on printing generally.

The following table sets out the translation costs incurred by the Department of Foreign Affairs in implementing the provisions of the Official Languages Act 2003:

The significant increase in costs in 2008 is mainly due to the translation costs associated with the Irish version of the Department's Statement of Strategy 2008-2010 (€3,741) and expenditure of €20,188 in respect of costs associated with the translation into Irish of a significant proportion of the content of the Department's website.