The Government has released a new strategy aimed at improving how public services are delivered through the Irish language.
The action plan includes a series of commitments designed to enhance services for Irish speakers and people living in Gaeltacht areas, reports RTE.
The Programme for Government includes pledges to introduce measures that promote the use of Irish and provide greater support for Gaeltacht communities.
The Action Plan for Irish Language Public Services, launched by Minister for the Gaeltacht Dara Calleary, sets out how these goals will be achieved and how key commitments under Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla will be implemented, reports RTE.
Among the measures outlined are plans to ensure that 20% of new public service recruits are competent in Irish by 2030, that public services in Gaeltacht areas are delivered through Irish, and that Irish is used as the working language in public offices in those areas so Irish speakers can conduct their business with the State in Gaeilge.
The plan received approval from ministers at this morning’s Cabinet meeting, reports RTE.
It covers the period up to 2028, at which point it will be reviewed and, if required, adjusted to ensure its commitments are met.
The document sets out a range of initiatives across several areas to support its implementation, reports RTE.
These include identifying Irish language champions within public bodies, promoting the use and learning of Irish in the workplace, and expanding access to Irish language training courses.
It also proposes campaigns to raise awareness of Irish-language job opportunities within the public sector, reports RTE.
Additional proposals include examining the feasibility of allowing staff to spend time working in the Gaeltacht or to be seconded to offices where Irish is used as a working language.
Within the education sector, the plan aims to support Irish language provision in both Irish-medium and English-medium schools, as well as strengthening Irish as a campus language in third-level institutions, reports RTE.
President of Conradh na Gaeilge, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, welcomed the publication of the plan, saying “it is positive that ambition is reflected in some of the targets relating to the provision of Irish-language services to the public across the State system”, reports RTE.
However, Mr Mac Giolla Bhéin said “ambition alone will not achieve the targets set out in the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021”, reports RTE.
“Without a clear, integrated approach and appropriate funding, it will be difficult for the State to meet those targets,” he said, reports RTE.
The organisation’s General Secretary, Julian de Spáinn, said certain elements of the plan were “positive”.
“It is positive that the plan includes a range of supports, training opportunities and new structures to enable the current public sector workforce to provide Irish-language services to the public,” he said, reports RTE.
“However, many of the actions in the plan are dependent on feasibility studies, and there is uncertainty around the timeline for completing these studies and implementing their recommendations.
“In addition, it appears that sufficiently ambitious and measurable actions have not been set out for the Department of Education and Youth and the Department of Further and Higher Education in particular, especially in terms of aligning the education system with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), to ensure there will be enough people in to the future with the appropriate level of competence to provide Irish-language services,” Mr de Spáinn added, reports RTE.
He said Conradh na Gaeilge is seeking a meeting with the advisory committee that developed the plan “in order to seek clarification on a number of actions, the implementation timeline, and to make proposals to address the gaps identified in the plan”, reports RTE.
Speaking earlier, he said the Department of Further and Higher Education must also play a role, as the public service requires a wide range of skills.
“We need to ensure that third level courses are available through Irish. At the moment, we know that 8% of students attend primary education through the medium of Irish and that drops to 4% in second level, and drops to below 1% in third level,” he said, reports RTE.
“So there needs to be huge ambition and targets to ensure that we’re increasing the number of courses available through Irish, and the availability to learn Irish while people are in third level, because there’s a huge gap there. And if we don’t address that gap, then we won’t have the people available,” he said, reports RTE.
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