Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 341: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his position regarding the use of publication directly to the Internet by public bodies as a means to minimise the cost of the production of those reports and policy documents made available bilingually by them under the Official Languages Act 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41800/09]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 342: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the steps he has taken to ensure that there is an appropriate quality assurance mechanism in place for Irish language translators; the further steps being taken to make use of information technology software that facilitates automatic translation thereby reducing translation times and costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41801/09]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 341 and 342 together.

My Department has worked, and will continue to work, with Departments and other public bodies to assist them in meeting their translation obligations under the Official Languages Act in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible. In addition, I wish to again reiterate that the obligation under section 10 of the Act to publish documents simultaneously in Irish and English applies only to a limited number of key documents published by public bodies, including annual reports and accounts and documents setting out public policy proposals.

I have long advocated that documents such as these should be published by way of CDs or the internet, rather than hard copy. I am aware that a number of public bodies already follow this practice. Indeed, the Coimisinéir Teanga specifically advocates this approach to public bodies in the guidebook on the Act that his Office published and circulated to all bodies in 2008 and the Government adopted a similar policy last year as one of a number of measures designed to reduce costs across public bodies.

At the request of my Department, Foras na Gaeilge began development of an accreditation system for Irish language translators in 2006 and the system continues to be rolled out on an ongoing basis. To date training courses have been provided to over 1,000 translators and, following successful completion of the designated examination, there are currently 147 translators on the accredited panel of translators. In order to support that important work, Foras has commenced the process for putting a similar system in place for Irish language editors.

Again at the behest of my Department, in 2007 Foras na Gaeilge began the process of developing, on a phased basis, a translation memory resource for the Irish language. The translation memory project collects the highest quality official English-Irish translations and formats them for use in both automated and manual translation, providing significant savings to all users as regards time and cost, and significant increases in consistency and standard of translation. The first collection of formatted texts has been made available to accredited translators and I understand that training will be provided shortly in the most efficient use of this resource on an ongoing basis.

In regard to information technology software, I should also mention Focal.ie, a national terminology database for the Irish language which has been developed by Fiontar, Dublin City University, with the assistance of funding from Foras na Gaeilge and from my Department's Ciste na Gaeilge.