Ó Cuív as ‘competent’ as Dev when it comes to farcical Irish policy, says Deasy

THE De Valera and Deasy political dynasties clashed in the south-east yesterday while Fine Gael was meeting in Kilkenny.

Community and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon Ó Cuív took a sideswipe at Fine Gael TD John Deasy’s criticism of the multi-million cost of translating documents into Irish as a result of the new Official Languages Act. The Waterford TD hit back by sarcastically comparing the minister to his grandfather, Eamonn De Valera.

According to Mr Deasy, it is farcical that the law requires all public documents to be translated and the funding could be better used to develop Irish language education.

Speaking in Waterford, Mr Ó Cuív said he was surprised by Mr Deasy’s complaints as he had expressed no interest in the legislation when it was passing through the Oireachtas and the law was supported by FG.

Referring to Mr Deasy’s example of the Draft Waterford County Development Plan being translated at a cost of €8,000 and delaying publication for seven weeks, the minister said people in the Gaeltacht area of Ring in Waterford were entitled to read the document in Irish.

Stressing he was a supporter of the Irish language, as he had attended Ring College as a pupil and was proud to represent people in the area, Mr Deasy said there are areas of the Irish language being neglected while tens of millions were being spent across the country on translating documents that few people read even in English.

“Minister Ó Cuív has demonstrated through this legislation that he is as competent as his grandfather,” he said disparagingly.