New Coimisinéir Teanga appointed to fill 9 month vacancy.

An Leagan Gaeilge

President Michael D. Higgins has today appointed Séamas Ó Concheanainn as Irish Language Commissioner (Coimisinéir Teanga). His nomination by Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, having been accepted by the Houses of the Oireachtas, President Higgins presented Mr Ó Concheanainn with his Seal of Office at a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin today.

Séamas Ó Concheanainn

Séamas Ó Concheanainn succeeds Rónán Ó Domhnaill, who spent 9 years as Coimisinéir Teanga before being appointed among the Commissioners at Coimisiún na Meán in the Spring of this year.

“I look forward to the opportunity to make a significant contribution as Coimisinéir Teanga to improving the public services provided by public bodies through Irish to the Irish speaking community," said Mr Ó Concheanainn. "It is a welcome development that the amended language legislation (Official Languages (Amendment) Act, 2021) is currently coming into effect to strengthen the language rights of the Irish-speaking community. The new language legislation includes significant commitments such a National Plan setting out the public sector's (comprising more than 500 public bodies) approach, to ensuring that the language rights of the Irish-speaking community are met. It will be critical to have sufficient human resources with proficiency in Irish to deliver the new public services. A national effort will be required, including a central role for the Irish-medium higher-education sector in providing the qualified staff that public bodies will require for the realisation of the language rights prescribed in the amended legislation.”

The new Coimisinéir also spoke on the provisions that have already been commenced. “I greatly welcome the evident increase in Irish language advertising across all media platforms. Section 10A (Advertising by Public Bodies) places statutory responsibilities on Public Bodies to place a significant portion of their advertising through Irish. It is important that the Irish language is central as a discursive medium in the public sphere.”

A native of An Spidéal in County Galway Séamas Ó Concheanainn has spent three years working as Director of Oifig an Choimisinéara Teanga. Prior to that, he held the position of Director of Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge's Gaeltacht Centre in Carna, Co. Galway, where he had both academic and management responsibilities. Séamas has also been involved in various Irish language-based research topics, including Fios Físe, a national research project that aimed to measure the popularity of TG4 among the Irish-speaking community. He has a particular interest in language planning and community development and has volunteered with a wide range of organisations and community committees over the years.

This is the first time the position of An Coimisinéir Teanga has been filled following a public recruitment campaign. The appointment of An Coimisinéir Teanga is for a term of 6 years.

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How fares our language?

Coimisinéir Teanga issues 2022 report.

In preparation for the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 coming into effect, the Office (OCT) rolled out one of the most extensive awareness-raising programmes since its establishment. Over 2,100 participants attended webinars delivered by the Office in 2022, some of which were run in conjunction with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Of particular note was the 81% increase, from 189 to 284, in the number of cases that OCT shared advice with public bodies regarding their obligations under the Act. A large portion of the increase in advisory cases related in particular to public bodies seeking advice on section 10A. (Advertising by Public Bodies) of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021, which came into effect in October 2022.

Leagan Gaeilge Highlights  ❖ 81% increase in advice issued to public bodies in 2022 ❖ 600 complaints received by OCT in 2022 – 25% from Co. Dublin ❖ Largest ever information campaign undertaken by OCT – more than 2,100 participants in online seminars. ❖ 5 investigations carried out in 2022 – 3 investigations relating to local authorities; the failure by the Health Service Executive to provide vaccine registration through Irish; and an investigation into Iarnród Éireann signage. ❖ Housing planning in the Gaeltacht and Iris

Advertising: Section 10A prescribes an obligation on public bodies that at least 20% of their advertising in any given year is placed through the medium of Irish and that at least 5% of the public body's annual advertising budget is also spent on Irish media. 

Complaints: The Office received 600 complaints in 2022 and although this figure is a decrease from the 727 complaints OCT received in 2021, it is comparable to the number of complaints received in recent years, e.g. 604 complaints in 2020. In addition, one in every five complaints came from the Gaeltacht, and one in every four complaints on a county basis came from County Dublin.

Investigations: Three of the five investigations completed in 2022 involved local authorities. One of those investigations concerned Offaly County Council. In order to complete this investigation, an Coimisinéir Teanga had to take the unusual step of invoking section 22(1) of the Act. Section 22(1) requires of any person from whom an Coimisinéir Teanga requests any information, to provide that information and where appropriate, may require the person to attend before him for the purpose of implementing his functions.

Another investigation revealed that the Health Service Executive (HSE) breached the statutory language duty prescribed in subsection 9 (2) of the Official Languages Act 2003. The breach arose as a result of the HSE implementing an online vaccine appointments service without due consideration for the language rights set out in subsection 9 (2) where the public have the right to communicate in writing, in Irish, with a public body.

During 2022 the Office also monitored the implementation of investigation recommendations in the case of 10 public bodies. Topics relating to housing planning in Gaeltacht areas and Irish language broadcasting were among the most significant issues monitored.

Planning in the Gaeltacht: The number of complaints that have arisen in recent years relating to planning matters in the Gaeltacht is noteworthy. Under section 10(2)(m) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, planning authorities with Gaeltacht areas in their jurisdiction are required to set specific objectives in their County Development Plan for the protection of the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Gaeltacht including the promotion of Irish as the community language. 

Rónán Ó Domhnaill
Coimisinéir Teanga 2014-2023

An investigation in 2019 showed that Meath County Council failed to meet objectives set out in its County Development Plan regarding this obligation when processing and determining planning applications for housing developments in the Gaeltacht. Whilst Meath County Council is making a genuine effort to implement the recommendations of the investigation, this case highlights the need for clarification in the form of regulations for local authorities with Gaeltacht language planning areas under their aegis along with other cases relating to housing planning in the Gaeltacht brought to the Office’s attention in recent years. To that end, the new statutory guidelines expected to be issued by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage this year will be significant to ensure the implementation of section 10(2)(m) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000.

Broadcasting: As regards Irish language broadcasting, an investigation of RTÉ in 2018 showed that statutory duties relating to the provision of a comprehensive range of programming in the Irish and English languages on its broadcasting services were breached. There has been a significant increase in the number of hours broadcast in Irish on RTÉ television services since the investigation, and it is expected that this increase will continue, on an incremental basis, in the coming years. As a direct result of implementing the recommendations of this investigation, RTÉ has indicated that a television current affairs programme in the Irish language shall be broadcast on RTÉ 1 in 2023 for the first time in over twenty years.

Early this year (2023) the Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, resigned to take up a position as Media Development Commissioner in the recently instituted Coimisiún na Meán.