Civil servants 'wasted time' learning Irish to boost career

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.

Language Commissioner Sean O Cuirreain said Irish-speaking workers in half of all government departments and offices may have been denied promotions because official decisions and agreements were not implemented.

“If I were a civil servant who had gone to night classes to improve my Irish, had gone to the Gaeltacht to improve my Irish over the years in the hope that it would help me in promotion and to find out now that it didn’t help me at all, that marks weren’t given if I worked in those particular departments involved, I think I’d be fairly aggrieved,” he said.

“Essentially those civil servants in relation to their skills in Irish being of help to promotion they might have been better off at home mowing the lawn or painting the ceiling.”

Mr O Cuirreain said the system of compulsory Irish was ended 30 years ago and it appeared that certain elements in the state system took it upon themselves to effectively promote compulsory English.

“There was a widely held belief that a system had been established – based on Government decisions and agreements – which awarded additional marks (6% or 3%) to candidates with an extra level of skill, ie. proficiency in both official languages of the state,” he said.

“It now appears that half of all government departments and offices have not been, or are not, complying with this system in their internal promotion competitions.”

The matter was initially raised by a civil servant in the Department of Education and Science who argued he had lost out on promotion because he had been refused the marks to which he was entitled.

Following enquiries, the department confirmed that it had not in the past rewarded competency in Irish with additional marks in internal promotion competitions.

It also emerged that they were not alone in this; half of all government departments and offices had adopted the same approach, the commissioner said.

Trade unions sought the end of the system in the past claiming it created a sense of grievance for those who did not qualify but the Government refused in a bid to ensure sufficient competence in the language to allow citizens do their business with government departments and offices through Irish.

“There will be those who will argue that the additional skill of proficiency in Irish should not attract such recognition. That argument is not relevant, however, in this instance,” Mr O Cuirreain said.

“The core issue here concerns compliance with Government decisions and agreements, and with matters of fairness, openness and ethics in the civil service.”

An Coimisineir Teanga said he had referred the failure to comply with the system to the appropriate authorities – the Commission for Public Service Appointments and the Finance Minister.