Irish became an official and working language in the European Union yesterday, more than two years after the Government first tabled a proposal in Brussels seeking the status.
There are already more than 20 official languages in the EU while languages such as Catalan,Basque and Galician have semi-official status.
From now on, EU regulations that have been jointly adopted by the European Parliament and Council will be translated into Irish. Interpretation from Irish will also be provided on request at ministerial meetings and at the European Parliament.
The possibility of extending the range of documents to be translated into Irish will be examined in a review that must take place before the end of 2010.
According to the European Commission, the addition of Irish will require 29 posts for translation, revision and publication, as well as 450 freelance interpreter-days per year. The annual cost to the EU is estimated at €3.5 million.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern welcomed the adoption of Irish as a working language and said it marked "a very special day" for Ireland and for the Irish language after 34 years of European involvement.
He said the Government was working with the third-level sector to roll out a number of new courses that would give Irish-speaking graduates the skills to compete for jobs in areas such as translation and conference interpretation. Marking the occasion yesterday, Martin Territt, director of the European Commission in Ireland, presented the Taoiseach with the Irish-language logo of the European Union's 50th anniversary at a ceremony in Government Buildings.
