Irish translations gather dust after costing council €30,000

Clare County Council has spent €30,250 on translating three statutory development plans into Irish - and has not sold a single copy, writes Gordon Deegan

The council is the latest public body to have spent significant sums of money on translating documents into Irish as required under the Official Languages Act.

County council director for planning Bernadette Kinsella confirmed yesterday that, in compliance with the Official Languages Act, the council had spent the money on the translation of three development plans: the Clare County Development Plan 2005, the North Clare Local Area Plan 2005 and the East Clare Local Area Plan 2005.

The plans each cost members of the public €50 to buy, and Ms Kinsella said: "Five copies of each of these plans were printed in Irish. To date, no copy has been sold to the general public in Irish.

"Approximately 200 copies of the English versions have been purchased. The cost of meeting its requirements under the Official Languages Act has to be met from the annual revenue budget of the council."

The Act requires that major policy documents of Government departments, State bodies and organisations, including annual reports, have to be translated into Irish. It has already seen the Irish Courts Service spend €12,000 on translating its 2004 annual report, although it has yet to be asked for an Irish copy of the document.

Monaghan County Council also set aside €10,000 last year to translate documents, including its arts plan.

Upwards of 22 bodies have already been required to produce detailed schemes outlining what services they are providing and plan to provide in Irish. It is envisaged that all 600 public bodies will eventually be required to produce the schemes.

The expenditure was yesterday described as "a wanton waste of taxpayers' money" by Green Party councillor Brian Meaney. "Money could be spent on Irish in a much more positive and proactive way," he said.

However, Clare Fianna Fáil councillor and Irish language enthusiast Tom Prendeville said it was "right and proper" that the council translate the documents into Irish.