Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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403. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures his Department is taking to encourage civil servants in his Department to take or avail of special leave or career breaks, or other forms of leave to encourage and facilitate Ireland's 2026 EU presidency, the Government "Career for EU" jobs strategy, and the Department's Gaeilge/Irish-language policy and promotion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3934/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The policy in my Department, is to release staff on secondment to work in the EU institutions to facilitate Ireland’s 2026 EU Presidency. We do not regard this as special leave or career break.

In 2024, my Department ran two internal competitions at Assistant Principal and Higher Executive Officer/Administrative Officer grade to increase the Departments presence in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels (PRB) in the lead up to the 2026 presidency where two panels were established at the respective grades. 4 senior positions have already been filled with the deployment of 4 Assistant Principal Officers on the 27th of Jan. The remaining panellists (3 Assistant Principals, 1 Higher Executive Officer & 2 Administrative Officers) are to be assigned to their new posts in the PRB in the Summer of 2025.

In regards to the Government "Career for EU" jobs strategy and in line with the strategies aim to increase the number of Irish officials in both permanent and temporary positions within the EU Institutions, my Department have ensured that all departmental staff are made aware of the career opportunities available to them via the Seconded National Experts (SNE) vacancies, where these vacancies closely align with the strategic relevance of my departments remit.

The final provisions of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 came into effect on 21 December 2024. My Department is fully committed to the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021. A member of Senior Management at Principal Officer level has been appointed to oversee performance and report on the Department’s obligations under the Official Languages Acts and will continue to keep staff informed as new provisions are implemented.

My Department is currently preparing a statutory return in line with the new obligations under section 10A (Advertising by Public Bodies) requiring a minimum of 20% of all advertising undertaken to be in the Irish language and that 5% of annual advertising spend on Irish language.

In order to ensure that my Department is accessible and capable of engaging with all customers proficiently, Irish Language Training is provided by the Learning and Development Unit through OneLearning, the Civil Service Language and Development Centre. This training is being delivered to ensure that my Department has a cohort of staff who can assist business units to respond to clients who may wish to communicate through the medium of Irish.

The Gaeilge Section is continuously looking at ways in which my Department can promote the Irish language across my Department informally and we reach out to our colleagues for new suggestions/feedback.

Promoting the use of the Irish language in DETE

• DETE staff volunteer their Irish language services to assist my Department conduct its business through Irish by translating short documents/letters and accepting telephone calls in Irish. There are currently eight such volunteers.
• DETE have contracted a reputable outside provider for Irish language translations ensuring a quality translation service is readily available.
• To coincide with the Seachtain na Gaeilge festival week, DETE promotes the calendar of events and also runs a number of social events in DETE through the Irish language.
• DETE’s Learning and Development Unit offers accredited Irish language training to all staff.
• DETE’s informal social events include virtual tea breaks and an annual Christmas table quiz run through Irish. The objective is to provide staff with an opportunity to enhance their Irish language skills in an informal, non-classroom, environment.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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404. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of requests to her Department that were granted for various matters (details supplied); the number of such requests that have been refused; and the grounds on which they have were refused. [2499/25]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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527. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures her Department is taking to encourage civil servants in her Department to take or avail of special leave or career breaks, or other forms of leave to encourage and facilitate Ireland's 2026 EU Presidency, the Government "Career for EU" jobs strategy, and the Department's Gaeilge-Irish language policy and promotion; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3953/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 404 and 527 together.

Delivering a successful Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) from July to December 2026 requires extensive preparatory work and significant resources. An important element of this is to ensure that there are sufficient staffing resources in place, both in Dublin and in Brussels at the Permanent Representation to the EU, to enable us to prepare and deliver a high-quality Education Presidency together and to manage its implementation.

The Department of Education is currently establishing the resource requirements, including our staffing needs arising from the EU Presidency role. The Presidency team in the Department of Education is being led by the International Unit along with the Education Attaché in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU. This team has been engaged with the EU Presidency central planning process that is being coordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs which includes discussion on staffing requirements. In addition, discussions are ongoing between the Presidency team and the Human Resources (HR) Unit of this department on the resourcing requirements associated with the EU Presidency.

Since 2024, no applications have been made for special leave or career breaks to facilitate Ireland's 2026 EU presidency, the Career for EU jobs strategy, the Gaeilge/Irish-language policy or to accompany a spouse to take up a temporary post in an EU institution. Where such applications are made, these will be given favourable consideration in line with central policies on special leave/career breaks for civil servants, the business needs of the department, career development opportunities for staff members and of course wider Government priorities.