REQUIREMENT FOR TRANSLATION TO THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE

 

 
Question:    Councillor D. O’Connor
 
“To ask the Manager what are the implications of the requirement for translation to the national language on the operations and business of the Council?”
 
Reply:
 
“Background.
 
Under the Official Languages Act, public bodies have a duty to publish certain core documents simultaneously in Irish and English including:
  • Any document setting out public policy proposals;
  • Any annual report;
  • Any audited accounts or financial statements;
  • Any statement of strategy prepared under Section 5 of the Public Service Management Act 1997;
  • Any document that had been appropriately prescribed as being of major public importance.
 
Public bodies were also required to adopt and Irish Language Scheme and Fingal County Council did so in 2006. In broad terms the scheme commits the Council to promoting the Irish language.
 
Implications of operations.
An Irish Language Officer was employed mid-2008 with the brief of implementing the scheme.
 
Expenditure on the Irish Language over the past 12 months is as follows;
 
Salary                                     €47,500
Training                                 €18,000
Printing and translations    €16,000
 
Total                                       €81,500
 
The training costs were once-off in nature.”