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€1.6m cost in translation

April 8, 2013

TAXPAYERS have been hit with a bill of at least €1.6million for translating exam papers, reports, leaflets and other papers into Irish.

State bodies must get all documents of “major public importance” translated ‘as gaeilge’ to comply with the Official Languages Act. But many of the Irish versions are NEVER read. A probe carried out by the Irish Sun found the bill for 63 departments, councils and other government agencies for 2012 comes to at least €1.6million. These costs apply to outside contracts only so do not include the time spent by officials and civil servants in translating documents internally as part of their job. The State Examinations Office, under the control of the Department of Education, had the highest bill of €900,000. This went on translating marking schemes and producing Irish exams.

Minister Ruairi Quinn’s department also splashed out €106,000 on gaeilge versions of leaflets, application forms and press releases. NAMA, the NTMA and the National Pension Reserve Fund paid out €23,462 for putting annual reports into Irish. An Post spent €7,179 for Irish versions of State Savings forms and brochures. Councils were big spenders too, as annual reports and development plans must be translated under the Act. Kerry County Council has 21 Irish officers who do most of its translation. But it still paid out €14,133 for an Irish version of the Dingle Area Local Area Plan. Limerick County Council spent €12,246, with much of this going on the gaeilge translation of the Cappamore Local Area Plan.

Meath had the biggest bill for a council, spending €47,210, with €33,309 to translate the county’s development plan. The Department of Social Protection carried out 372 projects, at a cost of €47,000, on reports, info booklets and its website. And the Department of Health spent €5,436 to translate the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Report into Irish. The Department of Children had a bill totalling €51,577. The National Transport Authority racked up spending of €?4,362 — including getting taxi-customer information cards put into Irish. The Central Bank splashed €67,000 for Irish translation. Others obliged to put documents into Irish included Teagasc, the Irish Aviation Authority, the Competition Authority, Crafts Council of Ireland and the National Milk Agency.

www.thesun.ie