Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 61: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the support provided here for Irish as an official and working language at European Union level; if significant progress has been made in the use of Irish as a working language of the European Union since 1 January 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47048/09]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Arising from the recognition accorded to the Irish language as an official and working language of the European Union with effect from 1 January 2007, I established a dedicated fund in 2006 for advanced Irish language third level courses. My Department is working in collaboration with the HEA, King's Inns and a number of other bodies and institutions in relation to the development of such courses, which will help increase the number of professionals with particular skills in order to meet the requirements of the Irish language at the EU, as well as of the Official Languages Act 2003 at home.

The initiative has proved a considerable success with a total of eight full-time courses now being delivered. These include an MA in Irish language conference interpretation – the first of its kind in Ireland - as well as an MA in legal translation, both of which are provided by NUI Galway. In addition, funding has also been provided for an intensive, short-term course for lawyer linguists provided by Kings Inns, and an intensive short-term course in legal translation provided by Europus Teo in Co. Galway. Other initiatives relevant to this area and which have received funding from my Department include, for example, the development by Fiontar, Dublin City University, of a database of EU terminology in the Irish language. The database also includes terminology required for translation of statutory instruments.

In relation to the use of Irish at the EU, as the Deputy is aware, elections were held to the European Parliament in June 2009. My understanding is that the level of usage of Irish has been maintained in the new Parliament and that, in general, there is satisfaction at the level of Irish being used in the various EU institutions - though I would continue to stress the value of Ministers using Irish at meetings as much as possible. Finally, I should also say that the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009 will result in the extension of co-decision to cover almost all legislative acts, which will, in turn, lead to a considerable increase in the number of EU legal instruments being translated into Irish. I understand that the relevant EU institutions are preparing for these new demands and plan on recruiting extra staff.