Only six of the 16 officers responsible for the use of Irish in Government departments can speak the language themselves, the outgoing Irish language commissioner has said.

Outgoing language commissioner Seán Ó Cuirreáin yesterday lamented that there are “widespread forces ... in the state sector ... that have little or no concern for the future of our national language”.

THE resignation of the Irish-language commissioner, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, is “undoubtedly the worst blow to the Irish language in many years,” say Irish-language group, Conradh na Gaeilge.

The resignation of An Coimisinéir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, adds to the growing suspicion that there is now an undeclared policy in operation to do away with what’s left of Irish in the public life of our country.

Gardaí are to be instructed on improving their ability to speak a cúpla focal after the Irish language competence of the force was criticised by An Coimisinéir Teanga.

An investigation has found that eight out of nine gardaí in the Donegal Gaeltacht could not carry out their duties through Irish.

Collection of the household tax was branded a “shambles” by government TDs as concern at the scale of non-registration for the charge prompted angry scenes in the Dáil.

The Department of Education was among a list of State bodies which breached laws aimed at providing services in the Irish language, it was revealed today.

SIGNIFICANT breaches of laws to promote the Irish language were found in school syllabuses and marking schemes, penalty points notification systems and school bus ticketing services, the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga reported yesterday.

AN EFFORT by the Irish language ombudsman to establish if a district judge could speak fluent Irish has been blocked by the Government.

THE number of complaints made to the Irish Language Commissioner increased by almost half in 2006, according to his latest annual report.

ONLY a tiny fraction of administrative staff in the Department of Education are capable of providing services through Irish, according to the annual report of An Coimisinéir Teanga (Language Commissioner).

Civil servants who learned Irish to improve their career prospects would have better spent the time at home mowing the lawn, it was claimed today.

AND the Word was made Focal.