Decision to merge the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga with the Office of the Ombudsman reversed
April 7, 2014
Office to remain “completely independent entity” under the Official Languages Bill (Amendments) 2014
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has announced that the plans to merge the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga with the Office of the Ombudsman will not be going ahead.
It was announced in November 2011 that a review of the Official Languages Act 2003 would be undertaken and the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga would also be merged with the Office of the Ombudsman. The review arose from the commitment made in the Programme for Government Ombudsman 2011-2016 to ensure the best value for money spent to develop the language and establish duties in accordance with the demands of the public.
While the review of the Act was welcomed, there was great opposition to the merger as part of the Department’s consultation process, and was highlighted again more recently with the resignation of Seán Ó Cuirreáin as An Coimisinéir Teanga.
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has confirmed that the Government has passed the Heads of Bill to go forward to the next stage of the review of the Act. The propsed Heads of Bill have been a source of great controversy following the release of an unofficial draft document. Several of the 14 draft policies have been opposed to as Irish language organisations deemed them to be detrimental to the current policies within the Official Languages Act 2003.
While the public remain dissatisfied with several of the amendments, the decision regarding the merger has been welcomed. Announcing the decision Minister of State, Dinny McGinley, T.D., said the decision was reversed following further review of the matter, including the results of the public consultation which clearly demonstrated the public’s support for the office to remain a completely independent entity.
Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge welcomed the Government’s decision to acknowledge the independence of the office of An Coimisinéir Teanga, however Stiúrthóir Chomhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, Kevin De Barra, expressed disappointment at the review of the Official Languages Act 2003, saying: “The Irish language community put a lot of strain on themselves to play an active role in the consultation process and I find it very disappointing that those recommendations have not been listened to”.
“One example of the proposed weakening of the Act is to increase the lifespan of language schemes pertaining to Public Bodies from the current three year term to an increased seven year term. It is ridiculous that schemes have a longer term than that of An Coimisinéir Teanga”, said De Barra.
Newly appointed Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, welcomed today’s announcement and said the decision “protects the independence of the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga and it puts an end to any uncertainty regarding the status of the Office in the future”.
Referring to the review of the Act Mr Ó Domhnaill said, “There is an opportunity with this new Bill to strengthen language rights for Irish speakers both inside and outside the Gaeltacht. I believe that the best way this can be done is by implementing the recommendations of the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga, which are based on 10 years of experience”.
While this latest development is good news for the Irish language community the weaknesses within the Heads of Bill remain a great concern. Ard-Rúnaí Chonradh na Gaeilge, Julian De Spáinn, said “No date has been set out in the Heads of Official Languages (Amendment) Bill 2014 to provide all services in Irish to the Gaeltacht community without condition or question, for example. No adequate targets have been set regarding the recruitment of proficient Irish speakers to the public sector. The Office of the Language Commissioner, An Coimisinéir Teanga, has not been given a monitoring role in the implementation of the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010 – 2030”.
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