Press release
Significant progress made on implementation of the Official Languages Acts
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
• New Placenames Committee to be established
• Jury Summons to be issued bilingually
• National Plan and progress report of Advisory Committee submitted to Ministers
The commencement of other provisions of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 has been announced today by the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, Thomas Byrne, T.D., namely Sections 12, 13, 14 and 16.
With the responsibility for Irish language and Gaeltacht delegated to him, Minister of State Byrne recently signed the Statutory Instrument to bring these provisions into force on 30 June 2024. Sections 12 and 14 are technical amendments to the Act.
With the commencement of Section 13 of the Act of 2021, which amends Section 31 of the Official Languages Act, 2003, a new Placenames Committee will be appointed. The Placenames Committee will work on a pro bono basis and its term of office will last for the next three years. Ten members, and a chairperson, will be appointed by Minister Martin and Minister Byrne. The Chief Placenames Officer in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will be the Committee’s secretary.
The main responsibility of the Placenames Committee is to advise the Gaeltacht Minister regarding Irish placenames, as defined in section 31 of the Official Languages Act, 2003. In addition to quarterly meetings to discuss place names in detail, the members must also examine place names outside of the meetings. For the next few years the newly appointed Committee will focus on draft orders for place names for the following counties: Co. Laois, Co. Carlow, Co. Sligo, Co. Longford, Co. Mayo, Co. Galway, Co. Wexford and Co. Leitrim.
Section 16 of the 2021 Act has now also been commenced, amending the Juries Act 1976. Under this provision, the jury summons notices are to issue bilingually. In fact, this practice has already begun as a result of close co-operation between the Department and the Courts Service over the last year or so. As part of this collaboration, the Courts Service ensured that its new jury portal had Irish language functionality, and that its jury package was translated.
Regarding the work of the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee, established under the Act in June 2022, Aire Stáit Byrne has now also confirmed that the first National Plan for Irish Language Public Services was submitted to him by the Committee on 19 June 2024, in accordance with the deadline set for it under Section 18C of the amended Act together with the powers delegated to him as Minister of State for the Gaeltacht.
This Plan is the result of close collaboration at a senior level between the organisations represented on the Advisory Committee together with other stakeholders who had various inputs in the process of drafting the Plan. The University of Galway was contracted to undertake research to form the basis for the development of that National Plan. As part of this research, over 35,000 employees of public bodies took part in a survey aimed at gaining insight into the current level of Irish language competence in the public sector. The results of this survey provided a clear and valuable insight into the current levels of the language across the sector, and the actions to be taken in order to achieve the overall recruitment goal of the language legislation - that is that at least 20% of the staff recruited to public bodies by 31 December 2030 will be competent in Irish. As previously indicated, it is intended to publish the research report in its entirety on the Department’s website once the National Plan itself has been approved and published.
The Minister now has three months from the submission date of the Plan to consider and submit the Plan to Government, and as soon as possible thereafter, publish the Plan on the Department's website. In line with Section 18E of the amended Act, within 3 months of the submission of the National Plan to Government, the Minister is to then set dates by which the public services in Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas (LPAs) will be made available through the medium of Irish, together with public offices located in LPAs operating through Irish - measures sought by the Gaeltacht community for many years.
In addition, the first progress report of the Advisory Committee, covering the period since its establishment on 22 June 2022 to 31 December 2023, was submitted to the Minister of State and An Coimisinéir Teanga on 28 June 2024, in line with the deadline set out in Section 18F of the amended Act. Based on this report, An Coimisinéir Teanga will prepare a commentary and submit it to the Minister within 6 months of receiving the report. The Minister will then submit both the report and the commentary to Government within 3 months of receiving the Coimisinéir’s commentary and publish them soon thereafter.
Speaking today, Minister Martin said:
"I am delighted that the provisions of the Act relating to placename matters are coming into force. It is fantastic that these skilled people with the relevant expertise are available to us for the establishment of this new Placenames Committee under the legislation. With the new Committee in place, my Department will to speed up the process of preparing the placename orders, making the results of the Placenames Branch’s research work available for all to see.”]
Speaking today, Minister of State Byrne said:
“I would like to congratulate all those who have been appointed to the Placenames Committee and I wish them well with their work in the coming period.
I also congratulate the Courts Service for the great work they have done in preparing to implement Section 16 of the 2021 Act.
Regarding the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee, first of all, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the members of the Committee and thank them for their commitment and dedication to the Irish language, following their recent submission of the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services to me. The intention with this Plan, once published, is to provide public bodies with a road map through which they can look to systematically increase the number and quality of public services they provide through Irish, together with increasing their numbers of staff competent in the Irish language in line with the Act’s 20% recruitment target.
Once I’ve had the chance to consider the National Plan, it is to be submitted to Government and then published in the Autumn, in line with provisions of the Act. It is planned to hold the first consultation process relating to the language standards for the first class of public bodies shortly thereafter. Through all of this work, it is hoped to greatly increase the Irish language customer experience, empowering Irish speakers to use the language in all aspects of their daily life - particularly in their dealings with the State.
Of course, I look forward to An Coimisinéir Teanga’s commentary on the Advisory Committee’s progress report in due course as well."
Regarding other developments under the Act in general, following the approval by the Minister of a grant of over €1m at the end of last year, the Public Sector Irish Language Network ( GA / EN ) will be launched in the coming weeks. Oireachtas na Gaeilge has been working hard to establish this network since the funding was announced last year, to enable public sector employees to use and practice their Irish in the company of colleagues. An update on this will issued in due course.
The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will continue the work of commencing all provisions of the Act between now and the end of 2024, in line with Section 20(3) of the 2021 Act.
ENDS
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