General Submission
regarding the implementation of Acht um Theangacha Oifigiúla in Government Departments
The Submission
In the following submission, it is assumed that the principle of equal treatment and recognition of all citizens, in the language of their choice, be that language Irish or English, is fully accepted and that the purpose of the submission is to suggest ways in which this principle can be implemented by the Department.
The Department makes its first contact with the public in a number of ways:
(a) through advertising in the media
(b) through letters of notification to all or some sections of the public
(c) in correspondence with members of the public
(d) on the telephone
(e) by fax or by e-mail
In cases where the contact is initiated by the Department( usually a and b above) in others the contact is initiated by the public (c,d and e above).
1.1 First contact initiated by the Department
In cases where the contact is initiated by the Department, no assumption must be made as to the language of the recipient or target of the notification or advertisement. That is to say for practical purposes, all initial contact by the Department must be either bi-lingual or in both Irish and English.
1.1.1 Unacceptable Formula
The formula affixed to a letter, leaflet, or statement in English saying that "an Irish version of this letter/form/leaflet etc.is available on request" is totally unacceptable in cases where the initial contact comes from the Department. However, such a formula should be affixed to English only forms or leaflets which have already been requested by the public.
1.2 First contact made by the
public
In cases where the first contact is made by a member of the public, the Department should reply in the language in which that contact has been made. This should be done without any distinction regarding promptness of reply, quality of information or advice given, or correctness and courtesy in matters of style, orthography, grammer, or linguistic register.
1.3 First contact by telephone
The telephone presents a more complex problem. While it is probably the case that a member of the public makes the initial contact by phone, the first voice heard is that of the Department receptionist or voice messaging service. Neither the messaging service nor the receptionist should make any assumptions with regard to the language of the caller. For that reason the first greeting of both should be something on the lines of " Roinn xxx, Department of xxx".
1.3.1 The receptionist
Once the receptionist has greeted the caller, he or she must be prepared to deal with that caller in Irish or English. The receptionist must therefore be comfortable in both languages. It is important that the caller does not feel that his or her choice of language is an imposition or is not welcomed. For this reason it may be necessary that all receptionists be fluent in both languages.
1.3.2 The messaging service
The messaging service is a simpler matter. After the initial greeting in both languages it should be possible for a service to continue with a formula similar to the following.
"Má tá tú ag iarraidh gnó a dhéanamh i nGaeilge, brúigh a haon anois. If you would like to conduct your business in English, press two now."
If the caller still requires the assistance of the receptionist, the pressing of a button in the Irish language service could connect him or her to an Irish speaker while pressing a button in the English service would connect to an English speaker.
1.3.3. Directing the caller
It goes without saying that if the caller would like to do business with the Department in Irish then the Department should be able to facilitate him or her. The same goes for English speakers. However, a person who is able to deal with the caller's query in either language may not be available. However, the receptionist should be always in a position to direct the caller to a speaker of his or her language who can take the matter further. Therefore, a list of people with the necessary linguistic competence and departmental expertise should always be available to the receptionist.
2.0 The Work of the Department
From the linguistic point of view the Department must see its work as being conducted in two distinct linguistic areas, Irish and English. The Department
must arrive at the position where it can deal competently in both these areas. The Irish speaking area may be divided into three sections: (a) An Ghaeltacht, (b) Irish speaking groups, organisations and institutions, (c) individual Irish speakers. The Department must steadily work towards the position where it can conduct the business of the Department in the language of the people it deals with. This means that it must be able to conduct business in the three areas above efficiently and fluently in Irish.
2.1 Urgency with regard to An Ghaeltacht
As a matter of urgency, the Department must ensure that all its dealings in the Gaeltacht and with people living in the Gaeltacht or representing Gaeltacht groups or institutions, are in Irish. As a matter of urgency, it must become a firm principle of Departmental policy that all business with the Gaeltacht and with people living in the Gaeltacht is conducted in Irish. It must become firm policy of the Department that (a) no correspondence is sent to the Gaeltacht in English, (b) only members of the Department with a sufficient fluency in Irish be charged with conducting the Department's business in the Gaeltacht.
2.1.1 Getting to know the Gaeltacht
For this reason all responsible members of the Department must acquaint themselves, as a matter of urgency with the Gaeltacht areas involved. A plan must be implemented so that, within a short space of time, all the areas involved are being dealt with in Irish.
2.1.2 Personnel dealing with the Gaeltacht
Probably the most effective and efficient way of dealing with this necessity is to recruit suitably qualified people in the Gaeltacht itself as soon as possible. In order to implement a satisfactory Gaeltacht policy in accordance with the Official Languages Act, it goes without saying that the Department will have need of more officers with a sufficient fluency in Irish. As well as advertising the posts in the national English newspapers the Department should seek – through the normal Governmental recruiting agencies – to have these posts advertised in the Irish language press, on Radio na Gaeltachta and on TG4.
2.2 Other Irish language areas
While the Gaeltacht must become a priority with the Department, in so far as its Irish language policy is concerned a plan should also be put in place whereby the Gaeltacht service can be extended to Irish speakers and Irish speaking organisations in the rest of the country. For this reason an extensive plan should be drawn up including the facilitating of Irish in the Department as outlined in section of 3.0 below.
3.0 Internal Department business
The Department should also be aware that as citizens themselves, its staff are entitled to use either of the two official languages. The Department should therefore seek to facilitate in every way those members of its staff who wish to conduct the internal business of the Department in Irish. Above all, the Department must insure that the language of the departmental secretaries and section heads does not dictate the language of those working under them. It is the right of a member of staff, as an Irish citizen, to conduct the business of the country in either of its two official languages. Members of staff should be facilitated in this regard, even if this requires the appointment of departmental translators. Facilitating staff members in this way will ensure the quality of service the Department provides to the Irish speaking public and in the long run facilitate the smoother running of the Department in so far as the implementation of the Official Languages Act is concerned.
4.0 Conclusion
The principle recommendations of this submission may be summarised as follows:
i. The equal treatment of members of the public with regard to use of the official languages from the point of first contact;
ii. The conducting of all Department business with the Gaeltacht in Irish only;
iii. The recruitment of Irish speakers as necessary in order to implement this policy of equality;
iv. Facilitating the use of Irish in the Department itself.
Nollaig 2004