Please Sir, may I renew my driving license?

It is virtually impossible to renew a driving licence using the national language!

I have a simple rule of thumb when dealing with the State and Semi-State bodies. I claim my constitutional right to correspond and interact with them in the National Language. I have done this since the 1960s when I reached my majority.

Thus when the renewal of my road tax, driving licence, dog licence, passport, payment of income tax, moterway tolls and any dealings I have with the State or Local Authority I expect the same treatment as a person using that second official language. That expectation is not always satisfied. Indeed it is often frought with difficulty. I have outlined that latest saga as a diary here (Irish).

Six weeks hassle!

The "Irish" page on RSA

Recently I became aware that there was a new system of renewing driving licences so naturally I tried to find out more about this. I googled "Ceadúnas Tiomána" (Driving Licence) and got the page of the Road Safety Authority. This has as one ought to expect on any Government agency, a button giving a choice of language. I clicked on "Gaeilge" (Irish) but to my dismay it lead me to a page which, although most headings were in Irish the actual content was in English only. After few minutes rooting around I could not find anything that could help me unless I was prepared to convert to using English.


I wrote to the Coimisinéir Teanga, who advised that his office had no jurisdiction over the RSA as it had been set up after the bill setting his office up was enacted (one of many weaknesses in the 2003 Act). Since the website had no address that I could find I then wrote to the Department of Transport. After a few days they wrote back saying that they would contact the RSA and I could expect a response from then within 10 days.

Compulsary English!

I waited but no response so I wrote again, three or four times in the course of six weeks with no response. I then wrote to the Coimisinéir Teanga again advising them of the situation and copying them with the correspondance. They also pointed out that the forms for renewal were on the site on a column on the left hand side and so they were. But they were referred to in English only as "Irish - D401 Full Licence application form". The Medical Report Form in Irish is incorrect too when downloaded. Had they used Irish to identify these forms I might have noticed! They asked if they could copy a contact they had within the RSA and I gave that permission.

This had the desired effect and I was contacted by them. They advised that somebody would contact me and I gave my telephone number.

The Irish client!
I was contacted by telephone then by somebody with an English accent who only spoke English asking if I was the person requiring to renew my licence in Irish. (Remember I have successfully renewed my licence for the last forty years in Irish with no difficulty!). I was flabbergasted and wrote back to the RSA saying it was a perfect example of the marginalisation of Irish by the state talked about by many people from the President down.  As a person who has lived in the Irish Speaking area for the last twelve years I fully understand the statement of the last Coimisinéir Teanga '..the State sector is effectively saying to Gaeltacht communities: “Speak Irish among yourselves, but don’t speak it to us!”*. I then received a telephone call from the person who wrote me earlier who apologised for this and said it shouldn't happen again.

I was then contacted by somebody else and we set up a meeting to do the necessary for renewal. He asked for my mobile number which I gave. And that was that. Hopefully there will be no problems when I get to the registration office.

(In the meantime I received notification from the Dept of Transport, Tourism & Sport advising that my driving licence was due to expire. This was a bilingual communication (in accordance with correct procedure). It advised that I had to make an appointment and that the only way to make an appointment was on-line at www.ndls.ie. However as outlined above this service is only available monolingually!)

But there's more!
I received a text on my phone - from a British phone number and here it is:

Can you get the message? It would appear that the words of a retired civil servant are very true in the attitude of state bodies, "passive inaction on their part now seems to have moved up a notch or two to one of active undermining."*

Maybe the Government should hold a referendum to remove Article 8 of the constitution. Somebody has already put the choices before us succintly: "We have two simple choices – to look back at Irish as our lost language or to move forward with it as a core part of our heritage and sovereignty."*  What do you choose?

But in English!
Had I decided to waive my constitutional rights this operation would have taken a few minutes plus the time travelling to the registration office.

*Address to Oireachtas Committee 23 January 2014

What happened in 2014? Coimisinéir Teanga before Oireachtas Public Service Oversight Committee. @ceartateanga

Translation of speaking notes of the Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill at the Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, 21 October 2015.

This is a translation. The original notes may be found on Gaeltacht21: Buaicphointí Oifige an Choimisinéara Teanga le linn 2014! This is the second time this year he has appeared before this committee and notes on his talk may be found also on that site: An Coimisinéir & Comhchoiste eile! (15 Jan 2015 in Irish). The report for 2014 (and for all the reports since the foundation of this office) may be found here on the Coimisinéir's website. The repost has an integrated English translation.

Chairman, I’d like to thank the Joint Committee for the invitation to discuss the Annual Report of the Office for the year 2014 along with the Special Report which was placed before the Houses of the Oireachtas earlier this year and relates to the Department of Education and Skills. Appointment of Coimisinéir Teanga by Uachtarán na hÉireann March 2014 The Annual Report was placed before the Minister for Gaeltacht Affairs in March of this year and the report was officially launched on May 14. The Oireachtas has placed three main obligations upon me as Language Commissioner; to operate as an ombudsman’s service; to operate as a compliance agency in regard to state services through Irish; and to provide advice in regard to language rights and obligations. As has been said often before my Office is a small office, one of the smallest in the state, with six civil servants who are tasked with a heavy and varied work-load work each year. Year’s Work My Office dealt with 709 complaints and requests for advice from the public in relation to language rights last year. This was a small increase on the year before. One third of the complaints my Office received related to services covered in language schemes, a quarter involved the use of official languages on signage and stationary and a tenth each related to difficulties people had using the Irish version of the name and address and receiving an answer in English to correspondence in Irish. Along with complaints about road signs, which fell last year, there is a definite trend that these are the areas that Irish speakers have most difficulty with when interacting with the State. Most of the complaints are dealt with through an informal complaints resolution process which the office operates. That said, in certain cases we are left with no choice but to proceed to a formal investigation when the informal process doesn’t yield a satisfactory outcome. During last year I initiated 7 official investigations on various matters. I also issued three investigative reports relating to the Railway Procurement Agency, Dublin Bus and the Health Services Executive. "...the Official Languages Act only applies to those public bodies named in the First Schedule of the Act. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has the authority to update the schedule and it is nine years since that last happened, in July 2006. Since then there has been a multitude of changes to organisations, functions and State services since the reform of the public service was initiated. This is a continuous problem that can be easily resolved and should have been done a long time ago." One matter that I should draw the Joint Committee’s attention to is the amount of complaints that the Office couldn’t investigate as the public bodies concerned didn’t come under the Act. In total there were 115 complaints of that order last year. 35% of those related to the Road Safety Authority and 15% to Irish Water. In these cases my Office depends on the good-will of the public bodies concerned to resolve the complaint or we may have to advise the public that we have no space in which to operate. This happens because the Official Languages Act only applies to those public bodies named in the First Schedule of the Act. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has the authority to update the schedule and it is nine years since that last happened, in July 2006. Since then there has been a multitude of changes to organisations, functions and State services since the reform of the public service was initiated. This is a continuous problem that can be easily resolved and should have been done a long time ago. The Annual Report outlines the monitoring program my Office implemented over the past year. It can be seen that we continued to examine the implementation of language schemes and recommendations made in investigation reports. Usually my Office also monitors a particular aspect of the direct provisions that are placed upon public bodies. Last year my Office examined the way in which local authorities undertook the fulfilment of their obligations in relation to recorded oral announcements on telephone systems, an obligation that is in place since July 2013 and hadn’t been examined to date. The main finding of the audit was that only 2 local authorities, out of the 32 who came under the scope of the audit, were in full compliance with their language obligations in this regard. Language Schemes "A quarter of the life-span of the (20 year) Strategy has passed now and there is no excuse for not identifying posts in a systematic and comprehensive way, as was promised." There has been a lot of debate about the system of language schemes over the past years. There is little left to say that hasn’t been said already I feel. I’m highly doubtful as regards this system as a comprehensive means for the delivery of state services for the Irish speaking public. There are elements of some schemes that are worthwhile but I believe that the system is a flawed one and that the Welsh example should be followed by evolving to a standards system. I acknowledge that more language schemes are being agreed than were agreed for some years. The Minister confirmed 21 schemes last year. But I question the worth of limited and conditional commitments in some schemes. There should be no place for this type of curtailment in statutory language schemes. It also worries me that posts where Irish is required are still not being recognised in the language schemes that are being agreed. It was first stated in the Twenty Year Strategy for the Irish Language that these posts would be identified in language schemes. A quarter of the life-span of the Strategy has passed now and there is no excuse for not identifying posts in a systematic and comprehensive way, as was promised. Court Case "I also welcome the learned judge’s response to the Revenue Commissioners’ contention that public bodies could identify ways to work around the legislation when he said 'I am not of the view that responsible public bodies would behave in such a manner'." Judge Colm Mac Eochaidh gave his judgement last year regarding an appeal by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners against a finding in an investigation by this Office. This was the first and only appeal against the findings made by An Coimisinéir Teanga in the over 100 investigations that my Office has initiated throughout the years. The Court decision against the appeal confirmed that my Office had the correct interpretation on that particular piece of the legislation. Such a legal precedent is of great assistance in clarifying legislation and I welcome it. I also welcome the learned judge’s response to the Revenue Commissioners’ contention that public bodies could identify ways to work around the legislation when he said “I am not of the view that responsible public bodies would behave in such a manner”. Official Languages Act (revised) The General Scheme of the Official Languages Bill (amendment) was published in April of last year. I made a presentation on this matter to the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht in May 2014. I said then that there was little in the proposed Bill to satisfy the requirements of the Irish speaking public. I also said that there seemed to be little attention paid in the published heads of bill to the proposals my Office made or indeed to the views submitted by the public. A requirement that state employees providing services in the Gaeltacht be fluent in Irish wasn’t included for example, or indeed that an alternative system to language schemes be put in place. I agree with the view expressed by the cross-party Joint Committee, which made 34 recommendations relating to 13 heads of bill, that the new Bill had to ensure that Irish be promoted rather than its impact be limited in certain areas. "The Office has received a substantial amount of complaints regarding Eircode and what upset people most was that their new post code was sent to them under a name and address which was in English when it isn’t common for them to ever use that. I am investigating the matter at present but I should say that I am restricted in what I can do in the absence of provision in the language legislation of the country to protect this right." As I’ve said before, apart from technical changes there are only two sections in the published heads of bill where I see a worthwhile objective, these are that public bodies be brought in under the Act automatically and that legislative protection be given to the use of the Irish version of one’s name and address. It was made clear to us recently how important it is that there be legislative protection regarding the use of one’s name and address after people received their new post codes at their addresses which were in English and in a name they didn’t recognise. The Office has received a substantial amount of complaints regarding Eircode and what upset people most was that their new post code was sent to them under a name and address which was in English when it isn’t common for them to ever use that. I am investigating the matter at present but I should say that I am restricted in what I can do in the absence of provision in the language legislation of the country to protect this right. Over four years have passed since the review of the Official Languages Act was announced in November 2011. I have no doubt about what’s required. The strengths and weaknesses with the present Act have been stated and restated. As Coimisinéir Teanga I want an Act which can be a strong support for the provision of State services through Irish that can help those that have the not unreasonable desire to conduct their business with the official institutions of the country through Irish. Measures, supports and resources are of course needed, not least being enough staff with Irish to ensure that. But we would be pulling the wool over our eyes were we to think that these measures alone are enough without a strengthened Act to back them up. Special Report Whilst launching my Annual Report in May this year I also submitted a special report to the Houses of the Oireachtas under section 26(5) of the Act. I have the authority to do this when I come to the conclusion that a public body hasn’t satisfactorily implemented recommendations made in an Investigation Report. "...arrangements must be put in place that ensure beyond any question or doubt that teachers in Gaeltacht schools and indeed in all-Irish schools have fluent Irish." This particular report relates to the Department of Education and Skills and its failure, in my opinion, to put satisfactory arrangements in place to ensure that only teachers with fluent Irish be appointed to Gaeltacht schools. Having conducted an investigation following a complaint from Scoil na Rinne on the matter it was clear that preference was being given to panel rights that contradicted or ignored language obligations on the Department under the Education Act 1998. I would like to put on the record that I welcome the process which the Department of Education and Skills launched for Policy Proposals for Education Provision in Gaeltacht Areas earlier this year. There is reference in that document to the matter that resulted in the original complaint, that is the redeployment of teachers and it states that the effectiveness of the arrangements in place will be reviewed continuously. I believe that more than that is required and that arrangements must be put in place that ensure beyond any question or doubt that teachers in Gaeltacht schools and indeed in all-Irish schools have fluent Irish. Having considered the implementation of the recommendations I came to the opinion that the Department hadn’t done enough to ensure that that would be the case. On that basis I forwarded the report to the Houses of the Oireachtas. I hope this statement gives an overview to the Joint Committee on the highlights of the Office over the past year and I welcome any questions.

Still here but in danger!

I disagree with the tenor of Colm Ó Giollagáin's article in todays Independent, "There is no denying the clear threats to future of Irish". I think he is reading far too much into what Rónán Mac Con Iomaire wrote in his earlier piece, "Irish and the Gaeltacht - they haven't gone away, you know". Certainly I did not read it as a condemnation, still less as a refutation of the Údarás Report, rather was it a refutation of the gleeful interpretation of this report in some parts of the English language media here in Ireland. I hardly think he deserves this vituperative response!

Of course there is no denying that the real problem outside observers face is the fact that the "Authorities" have treated these reports with nothing little short of contempt. Studies which he and his collaborator undertook in good faith are not only ingnored but are delayed in publication or even worse are only published in part. Is it possible to come to any other conclusion but that this is because the forces referred to by the President as those "for whom the language is not half dead enough," are pulling the strings?

Yesterday we saw an Oireachtas Committee discussing this latest study without having at least one of the authors present. Mr Ó Giollagáin is reported on tuairisc.ie as saying that he was not invited, and that he did not even know of the meeting until that morning. Yet at the meeting it was claimed that he had been invited, by telephone, but was unavailable on the day. Is that the way to treat an eminent academic? It begs the question as to how these meeting are organised and exactly how relevant is a examination by the Oireachtas of a scientific study if they don't actually engage with the authors in a professional way? (Meeting as reported on in Irish Times 21/10/2015)

Scientific studies are just that, scientific studies. Perhaps we sometimes read these more as opinions, like an article by Kevin Myres say, rather than conclusions reached after the measurement of certain parameters and identification of facts. This takes study, examination ourselves of the parameters and verification ourselves of the modus operandi used in the study. Too often we look at the catchy headline "The end is nigh!" and attack accordingly. In addition reports like this are held back or only released in part by the "Authorities" who requested them.

Indeed the treatment of Dr. Ó Giollagáin's expertese in the area of language planning has been largely ignored by those charged with that responsibility. A cursary reading of the reports of the Coimisinéir Teanga over that last ten years will show just how little planning comes into anything Government decides in matters of language. Indeed their lack of adherence to the implimentation of the 20 Year Strategy, the all Party agreed plan,  demonstrates eloquently the policy "Speak Irish among yourselves but speak English to us!"

I do think that Colm Ó Giollagáin is correct in its last paragraph. "Those in positions of influence will not be treated kindly by history if the trajectory towards the dominance of English in the Gaeltacht - and the extirpation of Irish as a social and cultural entity - is allowed to continue unabated, despite official protestations." 

Compare with the last words of Seán Ó Cuirreáin to the Houses of the Oireachtas before he left office (in translation): "But I would say to you with certainty here today in the Houses of the Oireachtas, that it is with heavy hearts that the people of the Gaeltacht and the Irish speaking community in general will approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising in two years time if our national language is to be merely a symbolic language, and rather than being an integral part of our culture and heritage, that it is pushed aside, marginalised and left in the in the halfpenny place in the life of this nation." (Address to Oireachtas Sub Committee 23/1/2014)

Since this item was published Dr Ó Giollagáin has written to the Director General of RTÉ as reported in this article in Tuairisc.ie.  (20/10/2015)