Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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409. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if his attention has been drawn to the fact that by lifting the European Council derogation on Irish in Europe between 183 and 188 jobs would be created for Irish citizens in translating-interpretation and related work; and if he will give an undertaking to lift the derogation on the Irish language at the earliest opportunity or at the European Council review in 2015 at the latest. [19224/14]

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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A decision on whether or not to extend the derogation in regard to the use of Irish in EU institutions for a further period of time is required by December 2015 at the latest. In this context, my Department is engaged in discussions with various stakeholders, including the Department of the Taoiseach and the EU institutions, in order to formulate specific proposals on the optimal approach to the derogation. It is hoped to bring the matter forward for consideration by Government in due course.

It should also be noted that, as part of the Government's strategy to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified personnel are available to meet the needs arising from the recognition of Irish as an official and working language of the EU, my Department continues to provide substantial funding for a range of specialised third level courses and for the development of Irish language terminology for the EU terminology database, InterActive Terminology for Europe (IATE).