Press release
Historic day as first National Plan for Irish Language Public Services announced
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
Historic day as first National Plan for Irish Language Public Services announced
• High-level objectives laid out under 5 major themes
• Tender process underway to develop all-new artificial intelligence tool ‘Ard-Intleacht na Gaeilge’
• Establishment of Advisory Committee on the Irish Language in the Digital Sphere
Today (9 October 2024) it was announced by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, and the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, Sports and Physical Education, Thomas Byrne TD, that National Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2024-2030 launched has been published.
This is the first Plan of its kind in the history of the State and it will be a central element of the move towards a bilingual public service. This is a six-year strategic Plan. The overall responsibility for the preparation of this Plan fell on the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee, which was established under the Act, with a wide range of organisations from across the public sector represented on that Committee.
This strategic plan will be implemented through two 3-year Action Plans, the first of which is to be published in the coming months.
The Plan also recognises the central role that technology will have in ensuring the provision of high-quality bilingual services over the coming years. In that context, it was also announced today that an Advisory Committee on the Irish Language in the Digital Sphere is being established by Ministers Martin and Byrne to advise and support their Department regarding the implementation of the Digital Plan for the Irish Language and to advise the Department in relation to relevant developments in the digital sphere more generally as they relate to Irish and the Irish language community.
The Committee will have representation from key organisations which are working on behalf of the Irish language and which have a specific interest or expertise in language technology developments.
A major announcement was also made regarding Artificial Intelligence: 'Ard-Intleacht na Gaeilge’ with Údarás na Gaeltachta, in partnership with Ministers Martin and Byrne’s Department and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, launching a tender process to develop an all-new tool to be based on artificial intelligence (AI) and on the rich resource of the Irish language.
Minister Martin said:
“I am very proud to publish the first-ever National Plan for Irish Language Public Services which sets out the vision of a bilingual public service, together with the measures to be undertaken to realise it. Its 5 strategic themes bolster each other and together will improve the quality and level of public services provided through Irish to the public, in keeping of course with the primary objective of the amended language legislation.
“Today’s other announcements regarding technology also show how important that field will be in these efforts over the coming period.
“I commend the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee on their work in the preparation of this National Plan and I very much look forward to its implementation across the public service from now until 2030.”
Launching the National Plan at Government Buildings today, Minister of State Byrne said:
“Today’s announcements herald the beginning of a new era in the journey towards embedding high-quality bilingual public services across the public sector, in line with the rights of the citizens of Ireland under the Constitution.
“With the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services now published, it is intended that it will act as a roadmap for public bodies in terms of systematically increasing and improving the number and quality of Irish language public services, as well as increasing the number of staff who are competent in Irish in accordance with the Act’s 20% recruitment target.
“Of course, all of this work feeds into the linguistic ecosystem we are fostering and developing under the language planning process and the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language. I am delighted that the Advisory Committee on the Irish Language in the Digital Sphere is also being established to advise and support the Department along with the sector as we aim to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that are on the horizon for the language in the digital sphere. I am also pleased that the ‘Ard-Intleacht na Gaeilge’ project has progressed to the point that a tender process is to be held for it. This innovative initiative is to be developed with funding from the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. With these projects we have a great opportunity to place the Irish language at centre stage regarding artificial intelligence and to develop an innovative tool from which both the public sector and the language community can benefit.
“Today’s announcement is about all of the innovative work that is underway to normalise the language in every field, and I congratulate all of the different stakeholders involved in promoting these various projects – I applaud the work and the opportunities being seized.”
ENDS
Notes to the Editor:
A copy of the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services, as well as more information on the plan can be found here
More information regarding the tender process to be announced for artificial intelligence developments can be found here .
-------------------------
Highlights of the National Plan:
Major Strategic Theme 1: Broad Initiatives & Structural Strengthening
• Examine the feasibility of establishing service hubs or clinics on a pilot basis to provide core public services through Irish to the Gaeltacht community and the Irish-speaking community outside of the Gaeltacht.
• Examine the feasibility of establishing a Shared Translation Service for the public sector.
• Examine ways to harness the potential of the Official Languages Officer (OLO) mechanism now established under the Language Act.
Major Strategic Theme 2: Provision of Public Services through Irish
• Regard to be had for the following when prescribing language standards:
- the provision of Irish language public services should be on par at least with the same services provided through English.
- specific regard to be given to services of a sensitive nature in the context of health, policing and social welfare – particularly in Gaeltacht areas.
- embed the concept of the active offer as much as possible in services to be prescribed under the language standards.
- public bodies to use official Gaeltacht placenames in Irish as a default.
• Examine ways of increasing the recognisability of employees of public bodies with Irish, to the public and to each other.
• Examine ways of raising awareness around the Act and the services that can be requested.
Major Strategic Theme 3: Technology
• Take a proactive approach in terms of embedding the Irish language element in technological developments to be used in the context of the provision of public services – particularly in regard to the use of artificial intelligence.
• Examine websites, systems or other interactive services to be made available in both official languages, looking at specific priorities in the short, medium and long term.
• Examine the feasibility of a single registration of a citizen’s language choice (Irish and/or English) for availing of public services which will follow through to services across the public sector.
• Examine the potential to broaden and develop the technical support tools available to public sector employees to further enable them to provide high quality public services through Irish.
• Establish a technical working group or groups to drive the implementation of the above-mentioned objectives.
Major Strategic Theme 4: Training, Recruitment & Language Proficiency
Regarding training:
- Identify strategies to increase the Irish language competency of existing staff.
- Identify ways to proactively encourage staff to complete standardised Irish language courses.
- Examine the feasibility of developing and expanding specific Irish language programmes at different levels, particularly through the DTCAGSM’s Advanced Irish Language Skills Initiative, but also through the HSE’s Medical Scholarship Scheme, Transition Year programmes, internships, apprenticeships, modules and microcredits.
Regarding recruitment:
- Examine the feasibility of aligning new roles stipulated in the Official Languages Acts 2003 and 2021 with existing roles.
- Examine the services/roles to be filled by individuals competent in Irish, the minimum level of competence on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) required and look to develop the possible associated entry pathways to such roles if needs be.
- Examine the potential to develop, update and publish a list of suitable candidates for interview boards through Irish.
- Examine the potential to standardise application, interview and assessment processes for role with Irish.
Major Strategic Theme 5: Data Collection
Identify appropriate methods for public bodies to collect data and, when appropriate, to report in their annual reports and to the Advisory Committee regarding:
- language competency of applicants to roles in the public service and among the existing staff;
- willingness to work through Irish;
- desire to improve Irish language competence;
- number of staff recruited annually with a specified level of Irish;
- Irish language training courses undertaken by staff (and the level).
‘Ard-Intleacht na Gaeilge’ (Irish Language Artificial Intelligence Roadmap)
A joint venture is underway between Údarás na Gaeltachta and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform at a European level drawing on the work done by Údarás na Gaeltachta and D/TCAGSM towards developing a roadmap for Irish Language Artificial Intelligence. The objective set out is independent conversational communication with an artificial intelligence option on any device by the end of 2026.
This work specifically supports the Government’s Digital Plan for the Irish Language but the work also serves other policy objectives: Digital Creative Industries Roadmap and the Action Plan for Designing Better Public Services. It will also be central in the drafting of Údarás na Gaeltachta’s strategic plan, 2025-2030.
Údarás na Gaeltachta have begun a consultation and mapping process across the Civil Service and the public service to identify ongoing work in this field. This has identified additional language corpora and resources, for example the visual, textual and audio archives of TG4, RTÉ and the broadcast archives of RTÉ RnaG. The next step is to put arrangements in place for the sharing of those resources subject to agreement and to put processes in place to assess the various tools subject to a Comparative Points System.
An advertisement will be launched seeking information from the market about the work which could be undertaken as a first step and as a result of that work, with the gaps having been identified, a tender process will commence across Europe. A Designated Activity Company (DAC) is to be established to take ownership of the results of that work.