Dail Report: The Minister for the Gaeltacht has condemned the "total carelessness" with which local authorities put up signs in "gobbledygook" rather than in Irish.
Mr Ó Cuív said that the authorities had adopted an attitude of "just stick it up any old way". He was "appalled" recently to see incorrectly spelt new national secondary route signs in Galway city, for Galway and Sligo.
They "should be taken down and go rid of", he said, warning local authorities of their obligation to check with the language commission to advise authorities on the use of Irish for signs.
The Minister was speaking during the debate on the Official Languages (Equality) Bill whose main aim is to promote equality for Irish and English as the State's official languages and to allow citizens use all State services and agencies in Irish, if they wish.
Mr Ó Cuív said the Bill was "central to the life of everybody in this country".
He pointed out that Irish was the oldest written language in Europe still in current vernacular, it was a "world treasure" and the State had a constitutional duty to preserve it as a "living, breathing" piece of world heritage.
The Bill was "not a question of displacing English but of encouraging Irish in general usage and at official language level". One of its measures includes the use of Irish on stationery from all "You would need a microscope" to read the Irish on some State agency stationery, he said.
Earlier Mr Gay Mitchell (FG, Dublin South-Central) had told the Minister in the debate, that if the Government really wants to save the Irish language "Dublin will be where it is saved". Mr Mitchell said the Irish language should be "championed" in the capital, which needed all Irish schools at secondary level.
He also condemned the poor standard of signs and a growing practice, particularly in new housing estates of putting up street names in English only.
"That should not be allowed. Local authorities should be reminded of their constitutional duty to have signs in Irish as well as English. But when signs did go up in Irish, the translation was different on one side of the street to the other."
Mr Pat Carey (FF, Dublin North-West) asked if the Minister had the power to apply some public service remit to TV3 and Today FM radio, where, he said, he had never heard any Irish. Mr Carey said "people are not happy with the level of Irish teaching in primary schools". The question had to be asked about why children learn Irish for eight years from four to 12 but have little knowledge of the spoken language and no knowledge of the literary language.
Mr Tony Gregory (Ind, Dublin Central) said that perhaps the most important part of the Bill was the establishment of the Official Languages Commissioner who would be independent and would monitor the implementation of the legislation by State agencies. "I hope the commissioner will be able to bring the standard of Irish to the same level that they have in Canada" where the province of Quebec was bilingual.
Mr Finian McGrath (Ind, Dublin North-Central) was pleased that the commissioner would issue an annual report, which would give the role "teeth". He also said Irish was a "civil rights" issue, because many Irish-speakers did not feel they were treated equally by Civil Service Departments.
The Bill now goes to committee Stage, where amendments to the legislation will be discussed.
