The European Commission is seeking to recruit 30 Irish translators to work at EU institutions when Irish becomes an official language on January 1st.
The translators will each earn about €4,000 per month and benefit from the generous pension and sickness entitlements available to all EU officials.
The commission announced details of a recruitment competition yesterday which will involve each candidate taking an admission test and interview.
Candidates interested in applying for the positions must have a perfect command of Irish and one other official EU language. They must also have a third-level qualification in any course of at least three years' duration.
Guy Van Biesen, head of the European personnel selection office (EPSO), said it was important to get the message to potential candidates as there was a concern that there may not be enough candidates.
"We hope we will reach the number of translators that we are looking for, but we don't know how many people will want to come to Brussels from Ireland."
There have been concerns that it may be difficult to recruit enough translators and interpreters for the implementation of Irish as an official language.
Strict criteria apply for the recruitment of interpreters for the EU institutions, whereby candidates usually need a specific third-level qualification in interpretation of a particular language or years of experience. No such third-level course in interpretation for Irish exists in Ireland, a fact that has led to meetings between Government and EU officials.
The EPSO expects to launch a competition for Irish interpreters in the summer.
It is hoped that due to the less stringent entry criteria applied to translators, enough eligible candidates will apply for the positions.
The Government lobbied intensively at EU level for Irish to become an official language, which means that all EU regulations adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the council and correspondence from and to citizens will be translated.
A failure by EPSO to recruit enough Irish personnel for the translation and interpretation service would therefore be embarrassing for the Government.
Kerry North Fianna Fáil TD Tom McEllistrim has urged Irish speakers to apply
There will be three pre-selection tests. Each stage is eliminatory and the closing date is June 8th. Details can be found in the notice available on the EPSO website (http://europa.eu.int/epso).
Application is exclusively online via this website (paper applications will be accepted from candidates with disabilities).