Failure to translate around 500 laws into our official language 'a bit Irish'

Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said Irish has always been seen as an "afterthought", but warned that the lack of translation also raises legal issues. Picture: Sam Boal 

The failure to translate around 500 laws into our official language has been described as "a bit Irish".

Houses of the Oireachtas officials have said a considerable backlog of legislation that has yet to be translated into Irish has built up which will now take until 2024 to clear.

Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said Irish has always been seen as an "afterthought", but warned that the lack of translation also raises legal issues.

"Most Irish speakers and most Irish language activists are realist, they are not expecting everything to be immediately translated or available, they are patient but there is a degree to which patience runs out," he said.

At present, the law dictates that acts must be translated “as soon as practicable”, but, he said, “this is a smoke-screen, and this is having an impact on court cases, where you have a legal right to access the law which is being used in your favour or against you in your chosen language”.

“Unless the Oireachtas makes this change, a murderer could be let free because the legislation needed to convict them could not be found in Irish."

While laws in draft format do not have to be translated there is a constitutional requirement under Article 25 to make an official translation of all acts.

Rannóg an Aistriúcháin is responsible for providing official translations once a bill is signed into law by the President.

However, a spokesperson for the Oireachtas said that due to "resourcing challenges" in An Rannóg, "a large volume of arrears of official translations has developed over a number of decades".

"An external capacity review of An Rannóg was undertaken in 2018 and a five-year strategic plan to carry out the recommendations is now being implemented, with the primary objective of clearing the historic arrears by July 2024."

Mr Ó Snodaigh said the lack of translations has a significant impact on the work of TDs who are currently scrutinising the Official Languages Bill (Amendment) 2019, which would require 20% of new public service recruits to have Irish. Mr Ó Snodaigh said he has been forced to submit some amendments in English.

"What I would like to see, and what happens in other countries, is that the legislation is produced at the first stage bilingually, and then processed, so it means as soon as it's finished it's already translated."

This was echoed by Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary who described it as "a bit Irish".

"It's an ongoing issue for the Coiste [committee],” he said. “We are putting through the Official Languages Bill at the moment at committee stage and it's kind of ironic for us to be enforcing targets on other State agencies to offer services through the Irish language when we still have a lot of work to do in the Oireachtas itself."