Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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138. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of vacancies which exist within his Department for candidates who must display competence in the Irish language; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5437/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Recruitment to my Department is undertaken principally by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) through competitions advertised publicly, setting out the competencies required for general civil service posts and technical/professional posts as appropriate.

There are no vacancies existing within my Department at this time which require specific competency in the Irish language, however, my Department is fully committed to The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation's (DJEI) Irish Language Scheme 2015-2018, which was prepared in accordance with Section 15 of the Official Languages Act 2003 and came into effect on 28 September 2015.

This Scheme builds on the principles of Quality Customer Service, and on the commitment in the Department’s Customer Charter to ensure that customers who wish to conduct their business through Irish can do so. It sets out a range of areas in which my Department is committed to improving bilingual services for customers, staff and the wider public over the next three years, and includes staff training, bilingual customer services, website, computer systems and on-line interactive services to the public.

My Department is committed to assessing on an ongoing basis the level of demand for services through Irish to ensure that the Department continues to meet this demand in a planned, coherent and accessible way.