Only 3% of department’s staff are fluent in Irish

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).

Seán Ó Cuirreáin, who is in effect the ombudsman for Irish language issues, yesterday said the fact only 3% of the administrative staff were sufficiently fluent showed how much the stock in the language had fallen in the civil service since compulsory Irish was abolished 30 years ago. Then, education was perceived as an almost wholly Irish department.

“The small number of Irish speakers indicates low the threshold is at present. The purpose of the Official Languages Act is to move the Irish language from the margins into the mainstream in a gradual way. In one sense, the only way is up.”