An Garda Síochána criticised for Irish-language law non-compliance

An Garda Síochána may be reported to the Houses of the Oireachtas over a failure to increase the number of gardaí capable of conducting their duties through Irish in Gaeltacht areas, An Coimisinéir Teanga has warned.

A monitoring report published on Wednesday found there was a “lack of progress” on recommendations made as far back as 2011 to ensure the provision of services to the public through Irish in Gaeltacht areas.

Only 35 gardaí with Irish are stationed in Gaeltacht stations, according to the organisation’s self-assessment system, An Coimisinéir Teanga said. This represents just over a third of a total of 99 gardaí stationed in Gaeltacht areas.

An Coimisinéir Teanga Rónán Ó Domhnaill, who is appointed to monitor compliance with language legislation by the State and its agencies, said it was “especially regrettable” that recommendations made following a 2011 investigation into the force by his office have not been implemented.

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That investigation found the force was in breach of the Garda Síochána Act, which states the Garda Commissioner shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that gardaí are sufficiently competent in Irish to enable them to use it with facility when carrying out their duties when stationed in Gaeltacht areas.

Numerous communications have occurred between the office and An Garda Síochána on the matter since that investigation took place.

Eight measures

An Coimisinéir Teanga met Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in March 2019 to discuss what actions the force would take. Eight actionable measures were outlined in a letter by Ó Domhnaill following that meeting.

Responses received from An Garda Síochána almost seven months later “were characterised by no time frames, vagueness or conditional understandings”, Mr Ó Domhnaill wrote in today’s report.

“I would estimate that I have more dealings with An Garda Síochána than with any other public body as regards the implementation of recommendations,” he told The Irish Times.

“They have communicated with us and they have spoken about plans and policies. But it is not translating, for whatever reason, into an increase in gardaí in the Gaeltacht, which is where their statutory engagement lies,” he added.

“They are not showing that the recommendations are being implemented.”

Mr Ó Domhnaill said “the likely outcome of this lack of progress” is that a report on the matter will be placed before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

“Under the Official Languages Act, if recommendations made in an investigation are not being implemented I am obliged to report that to the Houses of the Oireachtas. It is a very serious step, but at this stage it would seem that it is a step I would have to take because of a lack of progress.”

Eircode placenames

Among other areas examined in the monitoring report was how the Department of Communications was addressing the failure of the Eircode system to use Irish placenames in Gaeltacht areas.

An Coimisinéir Teanga’s office has received more complaints on this subject than on any other single matter since it was established in 2004.

Mr Ó Domhnaill said he notified the department in April 2019 that complaints were still being received from members of the public regarding private bodies using their addresses in English.

An Post stated in November 2019 that English forms of Gaeltacht addresses could not be removed from its database as they were required to ensure correct delivery of letters.

While An Coimisinéir Teanga said the department had made “a genuine effort to achieve a solution” by attempting to get An Post to amend the addresses in its database so that every relevant Gaeltacht placename is in Irish only, he said these efforts “have been to no avail”.

“As a result, Gaeltacht place names continue to be used in English by Eircode.”

Mr Ó Domhnaill also said he hoped that the strengthening of the Official Languages Bill would rectify the situation whereby he was unable to proactively monitor any provision to do with the status or use of an official language in other pieces of legislation such as the Education Act, the Planning and Development Act and the Broadcasting Act.