Speech by Éamon Ó Cuív, T.D., Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs; Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, 18 November 2009
Written by Eamon Ó Cuív Wednesday, 18 November 2009
IntroductionI am glad to have the opportunity to meet with you today. I understand that you are particularly interested in the operation of the Official Languages Act 2003, and I will listen very carefully to your thoughts on this matter.
Act - Background
I would now like to say a few words in relation to the background to the Act because I consider that it is important to remind ourselves why it was necessary to introduce the Act and what its objectives are.
Article 8 of Bunreacht na hÉireann provides that “The Irish language as the national language is the first official language”. In essence, the Supreme Court found in Ó Beoláin that the citizen has the right to conduct all business with public bodies in Irish. The Court also found that the State has an obligation to promote the language.
It is appropriate to look again at what was stated by Judge Hardiman in his judgement:
“The modern State necessarily imposes many onerous duties on citizens in relation to various aspects of life from tax compliance to planning law. Many of these duties are irksome, time consuming and expensive to comply with, but compliance is properly required. Equally, the State itself must comply with its obligations, particularly those enshrined in the Constitution and can no more be heard to complain that such compliance is irksome and burdensome than can the individual citizen. In particular, the State cannot be heard to complain that its non-compliance over a period of decades has now rendered present compliance even more difficult.”
The Act was drafted to reflect the constitutional position of the Irish language and in particular the application and interpretation of this constitutional status in the 2001 decision of the Supreme Court in Ó Beoláin. As I have stated many times before, the Acht is the first piece of legislation which sets down a statutory planning process in order to ensure that public services are provided to the public in Irish.
Official Languages Act – achievements to date
I would now like to say a few words in relation to the Official Languages Act. The Act is in force for over six years now and I consider it appropriate to remind ourselves of what has been achieved since the Act was enacted.
• All sections of the Act are in force since July 2006 and the Office of the Coimisinéir Teanga has been in existence since February 2004.
• To date, 97 first language schemes which cover 176 language schemes have been confirmed by me and published. A further 23 draft first schemes are being prepared or are being examined by my Department. In addition, five second schemes have been confirmed and have come into effect and 47 draft second schemes are being prepared or examined by my Department. The public bodies which are covered by these schemes include government Departments, local authorities, universities and third level colleges, and VECs.
• On 1 October 2008, following extensive discussion with this Committee, I made the Official Languages Act 2003 (Section 9) Regulations 2008. these regulations came into effect on 1 March 2009. I have no doubt that these regulations are of particular importance in terms of ensuring that the Irish language will be far more visible in the public sphere in the future. The regulations relate to the use of the Irish and English languages by public bodies in pre-recorded oral messages, on stationary and on signage.
• To date, I have made 11 Placenames Order, including the Placenames (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2004.
• At my request, an accreditation system for Irish language translators has been developed by Foras na Gaeilge. The required standard has been achieved by 147 candidates to date.
There is no doubt therefore that much has been achieved since 2003. That said, we are still faced by many challenges.
Language schemes
Language schemes are the core element of the Act. The majority of services provided by public bodies are covered by the schemes. Schemes provide public bodies with the opportunity to identify and develop prioities with respect to improving their Irish language services. The Act provides that each language scheme shall remain in force for three years or until a new scheme is confirmed by the Minister, whichever is later. Therefore, each scheme remains in force until a new scheme is agreed.
Policy with respect to second schemes
One of the core principles of the Act is that public bodies achieve an improvement in the range and level fo services which they provide through Irish over the course of a number of renewed schemes. It is vitally important therfore that there be continuity between first and second schemes with respect to the commitments made in the first scheme. It must be stated in the second scheme that the commitments made in the first scheme will continue.
We are all aware of the current economic difficulties. My Department accepts that the current economic circumstances create challenges for pubic bodies, especially when the current situation with respect to recruitment of staff is taken into account. Indeed, my Department and its agencies is faced with these smae challenges. It can be taken that my officials are taking this into consideration when discussing draft schemes with public boodies, both public bodies which have not previously had a language scheme and bodies which are renewing schemes agreed in 2005 and 206.
Publication of documents
I would like to focus once again on the costs associated with the Act, and particularly the costs associated with the translation of documents. As has been said on numerous occasions, there is only an obligation to publish a small number of documents in Irish. I have long been advocating that documents such as Annual Reports and Statements of Strategy should be published by way of CDs or the internet, rather than hard copy. This enables public bodies to save on costs associated with printing and distribution and anyone who has a particular interest in the subject may print off the document if they so wish. I am aware that a number of public bodies already follow this practice. Indeed, the Coimisinéir Teanga specifically advocates this approach to public bodies in the Guidebook on the Act that his office published and circulated to all bodies in 2008. In addition, the Government adopted this practice last year in order to reduce costs.
Road signage in the Gaeltacht and the Placenames Order (Gaeltacht) 2004
As people are aware, a campaign in the 1960s sought to achieve a situation where road signage in the Gaeltacht would be in Irish only. These campaigners opposed bilingual signage as the people of the Gaeltacht considered that the Irish language version of a placename was the correct version. They opposed the “imposition” of English language placenames by “bureaucrats”.
It did not make sense to have road signage indicating one version of a placename in certain areas and another placename in other places, as happened as a result of that campaign. If Irish language placenames are readily understood by visitors and tourists when in the Gaeltacht, it can expected that they would be equally able to understand them outside the Gaeltacht. When the Act was being drafted, I considered having road signage in both languages both inside and outside the Gaeltacht. However, I was aware that this would cause considerable controversy in the Gaeltacht as happened in the past.
I have an open mind on this matter. I would be interested in hearing the views of the Committee in relation to how it might be possible to reconcile the wish of Gaeltacht communities to have road signage in Irish only and the wish of certain other communities to have bilingual signage. I will certainly take your views into consideration.
Chairman, I look forward to hearing the views of the Committee and I will seek to answer any questions members might have. Thank you.
