President-elect Catherine Connolly wants Irish to become the working language of Áras an Uachtaráin once she takes office.
Ms Connolly, a gaeilgeoir for whom the Irish language was a core part of her campaign offering, will be inaugurated on Tuesday, November 11th, at Dublin Castle.
Earlier this week, a source close to Ms Connolly said “Gaeilge is going to be to the fore” in her presidency, along with other key campaign commitments, such as support for the disabled community, and that her team will be looking to have people from within the Áras staff with Irish “and for it to be the working language of the Áras” in as much as is possible.
During the campaign, Ms Connolly referred to the Irish language as “a gift”, telling The Journal podcast that it is a “completely different view of the world”.
A campaign team source said that it was not the case that everyone would have to have Irish to work in the Áras.
On Friday, the president-elect told Raidió na Gaeltachta that she hoped to make use of it nonetheless. “I will do my best to bring Irish in from the margins and use it,” she said.
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In her first media interview since being elected, Ms Connolly, who rekindled her knowledge of Irish after becoming mayor of Galway, told the station that she was impressed by the effort people made to speak Irish to her during the campaign.
“I don’t like the phrase ‘cúpla focal’ but the effort they made to speak to me in Irish and use what they had” had made an impression, Ms Connolly said during the interview on Adhmhaidin, Raidió na Gaeltachta’s morning current affairs programme.
Asked if she would make proficiency in Irish a requirement for her new staff, Ms Connolly said: “I will. I will be focusing in on a lot of things, on people with disabilities and a lot of other things. I don’t have a lot of jobs [to fill], I should say, I am still getting information on that, but Irish will be at the top of the ladder.”
The details of how it would be implemented are yet to be fully fleshed out, it is understood. Ms Connolly’s team are in the midst of preparing for her inauguration and the opening weeks of her presidency.
Ms Connolly will have capacity to hire staff alongside the civil servants who work in the Áras - usually a complement of two hires made directly by the president.
A working document on her first 100 days has been drawn up, with an intention to make good on the campaign trail promise that the first group of people invited to the Áras during her presidency will be those with disabilities - ideally before Christmas, it is understood.
