The lack of translation facilities for the Irish language at a major European conference in Dublin has been criticised by the Fine Gael TD Mr Gay Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell, who was hosting and chairing a two-day meeting of the Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees (COSAC) at Dublin Castle, said the event provided a facility for translation into 17 different languages, but not Irish.
He said the fact that the event, which welcomed 130 delegates to the capital, did not have an Irish translation facility was "absurd".
Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, Mr Mitchell said: "It is absolutely crazy that Ireland can host a formal meeting of EU parliamentarians and provide translation into 17 languages but not Irish.
"Small states such as Slovenia, Estonia and Denmark had a facility for translation at this conference, but there was no facility for Irish. This is due to the fact that Irish is a treaty language, meaning primary legislation can be published in Irish, but it is not an official language. If it is good enough for all other states, why not Ireland and Irish?"
"This is an issue which requires a lot more public debate and consideration. Either the language regime should be changed or Irish should be translated in the same way as other EU state languages."
The lobby group Stadas has received significant support for its calls to have Irish recognised as an official language of the European Union. It recently raised a petition of some 80,000 signatures calling for such recognition.
The group says that all that would be required for Irish to be recognised as an official working language of the EU is for the Government to inform the European Commission that they wish to have a particular treaty article modified in order to include Irish as an official working language.