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Measures give more rights to Irish speakers

The final provisions of 2021 legislation on the Irish language are to come into effect on 21 December this year.

The measures will give Irish speakers more language rights, as well as placing new obligations on public bodies in relation to the use of Irish.

Thomas Byrne (Minister of State for the Gaeltacht), who has now signed an order to bring the final provisions of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 into force, described the move as “a significant step forward” for Irish-language services.

Social-media posts

Under the provisions:

• Posts to public bodies on social media will now have to be responded to in the official language in which they are received,
• Correspondence sent out by public bodies to the public to market themselves or their services will be done in Irish only or bilingually,
• The names of newly established public bodies will be in Irish only and new or updated logos of public bodies will be in Irish or bilingual, and
• Elements of services provided by third parties on behalf of public bodies will now also come under the act.

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said that it would issue guidelines before the end of March 2025 to support public bodies in implementing the new measures, and to provide transparency to the public.

Minister Catherine Martin said that 2025 would “change and strengthen” language rights and the use of Irish in the public sector.