County council and Eircode lack of co-operation may lead to legal action. - Report

 Gaeilge 

Monitoring Report 2020/21 of the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga has been published.

Main Points:  • No local authority examined was fully compliant with their commitments regarding websites and interactive services. • A mixed level of compliance amongst Education & Training Boards was identified regarding statutory obligations under the Official Languages Act. • An Coimisinéir Teanga has welcomed actions put in place by the Office of Public Works at heritage sites that received an unsatisfactory rating for their signage in last year’s Monitoring Report. • A report is to be placed before the Houses of the Oireachtas due to a lack of implementation of recommendations from an investigation into Eircode.

 

The responsibilities on An Coimisinéir Teanga by the Houses of the Oireachtas include the monitoring of the implementation of the Official Languages Act. This aspect of his duties is central to the work the Office carries out as it gives the office holder the opportunity to monitor, off his own bat, the range of duties placed upon public bodies under the Official Languages Act. 

An Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill,  said that the Monitoring Report for 2020/2021 highlighted that some local authorities did not engage with his Office during the monitoring process and that he would be reminding them of their statutory obligation to cooperate with him when undertaking his functions.

“Under the Official Languages Act proceedings for an offence can be brought by An Coimisinéir Teanga in the event that the Commissioner is hindered or obstructed in the performance of his or her functions. That particular provision in the Act has never been used since the Office was established but in light of the lack of cooperation from some local authorities, I may have no option except to avail of this significant action soon.”

An Coimisinéir Teanga also expressed disappointment that monitoring work conducted by his Office found that recommendations relating to the use of Gaeltacht place names for the Eircode system were not satisfactorily implemented and that he would be laying a report on this matter before the Houses of the Oireachtas. said he hopes that when a new Language Bill is enacted that he will have the opportunity to monitor other enactments that relate to language matters instead of solely the Official Languages Act.

“With the enactment of a new Bill I should be able to engage in a more allencompassing monitoring process than is allowed at present under the Official Languages Act. This would enable me to monitor the implementation of language legislation that relates to education, broadcasting, planning and transport amongst many other areas”,

• The Monitoring Report can be found here on the Coimisinéir's website.

Monitoring report highlights Garda failure!

Prior to 2018 the majority of the Coimisinéir Teanga's monitoring was focused on language schemes. This was a sensible approach because these language schemes were the main mechanism used by the legislation to impose a legal obligation on public bodies to provide varied services in Irish. However by 2017 it became evident that it was a flawed system. No systematic or comprehensive development of services provided in Irish occurred as a result of this system.

Leagan Gaeilge

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A litany of failures (Irish Times Editorial 13/8/2020)

For this reason the Coimisinéir used another of his powers given him by the Oireachtas. This allowed him to monitor, of his own accord, the range of duties placed upon public bodies under the Official Languages Act. His first report using this monitoring power led to the first Monitoring Report covering 2018. Now the report for 2019 is available and shows how state and public bodies are fulfilling their obligations under the law and constitution.

Garda Síochána

Only 35 Gardaí with Irish are stationed in Gaeltacht stations according to the organisation’s self-assessment system. That is out of a total of 99 Gardaí stationed in the Gaeltacht. An Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, says that it is now clear that recommendations from an investigation concluded in 2011 on this issue have not been implemented as they should.

Overview of 2nd Monitoring Report

As he launched  the  2019 Monitoring Report today, An Coimisinéir Teanga said … "the likely outcome of this lack of progress will be the laying of a report on the issue before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This in accordance with the obligation placed upon me when recommendations of an investigation have not been implemented after a reasonable period of time. It would be difficult to argue that a reasonable period of time has not elapsed since an investigation in 2011 as regards An Garda Síochána complying with its obligations under the Garda Síochána Act in ensuring Gardaí with Irish are stationed in Gaeltacht areas, to the extent possible."

Signage 

The Monitoring Report for 2019 also shows that 75% of signs at 10 heritage sites examined were compliant with the legislative requirements, but that over 40% of signs at the four universities under the auspices of the National University of Ireland were in English only.

Local authority websites, language schemes of Education & Training Boards and the interactive services of the Revenue Commissioners were also examined as part of the audit.

Official Languages Bill

An Coimisinéir Teanga said he hoped that the strengthening of the Official Languages Bill, as committed to in the Programme for Government, would rectify the situation where he is unable to proactively monitor any provision to do with the status or use of an official language in other Acts of the Oireachtas such as the Education Act, the Planning and Development Act and the Broadcasting Act. At present the Commissioner may only deal with allegations of non-compliance in these areas through an investigation.

• See also his Monitoring Report 2018