Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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42. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the measures that will be taken to meet the target of at least 20% of the staff recruited to public bodies being competent in Irish by December 2030, under the first National Plan for Irish Language Public Services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36879/24]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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At the start of my term in office I set out that the full and successful implementation of the Official Languages Acts 2003 and 2021 would be a top priority for me, including the achievement of the recruitment target referenced in the Deputy’s question. Central to these efforts will be the first ever National Plan for Irish Language Public Services which was submitted to me by the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee in June of this year.

The Plan is the result of close collaboration at a senior level between the organisations represented on the Advisory Committee, which include my own Department, along with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENPR), the Department of Education, the Department of Social Protection, the HSE, An Garda Síochána and PublicJobs together with other stakeholders who had various inputs into the drafting process

The Advisory Committee commissioned the University of Galway to undertake extensive research to inform the development of the Plan which included a survey, in which some 35,000 public servants took part, primarily to establish the current Irish language competence of public service employees. The research undertaken provided some significant and valuable insights into the current status of the language across the public service and the actions to be taken in order to achieve the recruitment target set-down in the legislation.

It is essential in this regard to do all we can to support those looking to develop their Irish language skills over the coming period. In this regard, I have established an Irish Language Network for the Public Sector, which was launched this summer, with over €1m to be invested in same over the next 3 years. To date, over 1,000 public sector employees have registered to participate in the network.

Another key aspect which I have touched on before is raising awareness of the career opportunities that exist for those with Irish. In this regard, increased funding was approved for Gluaiseacht - Conradh na Gaeilge's roadshow, enabling them to attend careers fairs and reach over 28,000 young people annually. Planning for a large scale national awareness campaign is also at an advanced stage, with it intended to be launched early next year.

Other measures that may be of interest to the Deputy include:

• the review and expansion of the Advanced Irish Language Skills Initiative that is currently underway to ensure it best serves the growing needs of the Irish public service;
• the commitment made in the Government's Public Service Apprenticeship Plan 2030 to develop a Speisialtóir Gaeilge apprenticeship programme by Quarter 3 of 2025;
• the increase of 93% seen by OneLearning in the number of officers undertaking Irish language training courses between spring 2022 and spring 2024 - with Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge (TEG) now certifying these courses. This is particularly noteworthy given that the TEG system is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages which is mentioned specifically in the Act.