Irish official EU language

[Harold F. Schiffman]

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
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Irish official EU language
[Published: Tuesday 26, December 2006 - 10:24]

By Brendan McDaid

A North West-based Irish language group today welcomed confirmation that
Irish will become the 21st official European language to be given equal
status within the EU. The move, to be formalised on January 1, means that
Gaelige can be used during debates and to translate all official documents
from the EU. Irish will be one of three new languages to be adopted on New
Year's Day, the others being Bulgarian and Romanian. An Gaelaras
development officer Donnacha MacNiallais said today: "This is something we
have been looking forward to and which ensures that Irish has the same
status as other national languages. "It is a very welcome and positive and
will add to the growing status of the language and help with the revival."

Mr McNiallais had formed part of a delegation to Europe at the start of
2006 to lobby for official status to be afforded to the Irish language, on
a par with English, Spanish, German and other languages. He said: "This
means now for instance that if an MEP speaks in Irish in the European
Parliament there will be simultaneous translations to the other members.
"We are also very supportive of the proposal from St Andrews that an Irish
Language Act be put into law in the six counties and we will be working on
that in the New Year." In preparation for the new inclusion, the European
Commission has adopted a strategy to guide its translation of written
texts for 2007 and beyond.

The strategy aims to better identify translation needs and providers, and
enshrines multi-lingualism as a core element in the Commission's
policy-making and forward planning. Jan Figel, European Commissioner in
charge of education, training, culture and multi-lingualism, said: "The
diversity of languages is our common richness and the promotion of this
diversity is a clear priority for the European Commission." Irish
translation will start with a workforce of five translators. For 2007, the
cost of translation in the Commission is estimated to be around Eu 302m.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2103971.ece

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