Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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114. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will pursue that the derogation on the status of the Irish language in the European Union is ended at the end of 2016 and in order for this to happen, that the Irish Government would inform the Council of the European Union in 2014 that it intends to propose the ending of the derogation on the status at a formal meeting to be held in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27769/14]

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Questions No 316 and 319 of 24 June 2014. As I stated in that reply, a decision on whether or not to extend the derogation for 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, in conjunction with the Department of the Taoiseach, is engaged in discussions with various stakeholders, including the EU institutions, in order to formulate specific proposals on the optimal approach to the derogation. This matter will be brought 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).