Acceso usuarios
Peadar Ó Flatharta
The Irish language is recognised in Bunreacht na hÉireann [The Constitution of Ireland] as the national and first official language, and provisions to support the language are to found in c.120 specific enactments in Irish legislation. In 2007, the Irish language was designated as an official working language of the European Union. In 2003, the Irish Government enacted the Official Languages Act to ensure better availability and a higher standard of public services through Irish. This was to be principally achieved by placing a statutory obligation on public bodies to make specific provision for the delivery of such services in a coherent and agreed way. This obligation is known as a ‘language scheme’. This paper critically reviews the language schemes as a vehicle for service delivery based on the evidence over 10 years of the operation of the Act. The paper also refers to a lesser degree to other analogous cases, most notably Scotland and Wales. As the Office of the Language Commissioner is charged with ensuring that the schemes are implemented, the paper will review the data provided by the Language Commissioner in 10 annual reports and other publications. The final section of the paper presents a view based on the data as to the strengths and weaknesses of language schemes as instruments for language planning.
