Irish became one of the official languages of the EU
What does that mean?
On 13 June 2005 the Council of Ministers (foreign ministers) adopted a Regulation 9645/05 that granted Irish language the status of official and working language of the European Union. The Regulation stands in support of the EU orientation to promote the richness and linguistic diversity of the EU. It came into effect on 1 January 2007.
Despite the costs of the growing extent of the translations and interpretations the EU not only ecourages multilingualism of its citizens, but also tries to approach the citizens by bringing the political and administrative structure of the EU closer to them – using their mother tongue.
Since Irish accession to EEC in 1973 the Irish language had a status of a Treaty language, meaning that all the treaties had to be translated to Irish, however, Irish wasn’t treated as a working language. When the Regulation came into efect earlier this year it meant that English was no longer the only working language for the Irish representatives in the EU bodies. To be more exact, it means that all key EU legislation has to be translated to Irish and all the acts adopted in codesicion by European Parliament and the Council will be published in Irish (other legislative acts will be exempted for a period of five years since effective translation and interpretation services are yet to be established) .
On a practical level, it implies that Irish representatives are able to address the Council in Irish and that Irish job seekers can put down Irish language when they’re applying for a job that requires knowledge of EU official languages.
Other positive implications of this Regulation include the recruitment of 30 or so Irish translators and interpreters. Providing job opportunitites for Irish speakers is a great acquisition, but making Irish the official language of the EU brings about an important recognition of a language that had been neglected in the past. however, the recognition of the language is not the only achievement. The greatest development is the fact that the Irish speaking community in Ireland is granted the same rights and benefits that arise from EU-citizenship as any other linguistic community in the EU.
