The Minister for the Gaeltacht, Mr Ó Cuív, was accused in the Dáil of making a "false and grossly inflated prediction" that 2,000 extra jobs would be created for the Irish language community because of the Official Languages Act.
Labour's Gaeltacht spokesman, Mr Brian O'Shea, said the Minister made the comments in an interview with an Irish language newspaper about the implementation of the Act, which Mr Ó Cuív sponsored.
"He considered he was quite safe to make this outlandish prediction as no one outside the Irish language community would be aware of it and he would not be called to account for it," said Mr O'Shea.
Mr Ó Cuív, however, insisted that: "I did not at any time indicate that an additional 2,000 jobs would be created in the public sector as a consequence of the legislation".
He also said: "I do not believe there will be 2,000 extra jobs in the public service, but I believe that extra jobs will be created. If one wishes, one can put a figure of 2,000 on it." The provisions of the legislation include a requirement that all State documents be produced in Irish as well as English, which opponents claim will result in a huge extra cost.
But the Minister pointed out that the Official Languages Act "must mean something. Either it will bring about an improved service or it will not. It appears reasonable to me to predict that 2,000 people with a competence in Irish will be required to provide services following the enactment of the Official Languages Act."
The public service had a staff of 280,121 people. "Within this a complement of 2,000 people with a competence in Irish would represent less than 1 per cent of the public service." He added that further employment could be created in training, translation and other sectors outside the public service.
"I made the point in the interview that those people with bilingual ability would have an advantage when it came to such jobs. Doctors have an advantage when it comes to jobs in medicine and lawyers have an advantage when it comes to jobs in law.
"Why would somebody who is bilingual not have and advantage in this respect, just has those who are trilingual have the edge when it comes to jobs in the EU?"
But Mr O'Shea said the Minister's statement was "clear and unequivocal" that 1,000 jobs would be created within Gaeltacht areas and almost the same number outside it.
Mr Ó Cuív said he was "quoted and misquoted in newspapers every day" and he believed that 1,000 jobs could be created by Údarás na Gaeltachta that had nothing to do with the Act. "They are two separate issues," the Minister said.
The Labour Party spokesman said it was "difficult to follow the Minister's logic". When he asked why the Minister had not chosen to set the record straight in the intervening 18 months, Mr Ó Cuív said if he had to correct inaccuracies he would be writing to newspapers virtually every day.
