BYCRONANSCANLON
THE number of complaints made by members of the public from Donegal to the Irish Language Commissioner increased by almost half in 2006, according to his latest annual report.
However, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, An Coimisinéir Teanga, does not believe that the rise is due to a decrease or shortcomings in services provided through Irish but to an increase in public awareness of linguistic rights and of the Coimisinéir's work.
Mr Ó Cuirreáin hails from Oldtown between Falcarragh and Gortahork but has been living in Galway for the past 30 years.
Mr Ó Cuirreáin's office dealt with 611 new complaints in total from members of the public during 2006, an increase of 47% from the previous year.
Almost a third of these came from Gaeltacht areas (30%) while a further third came from Galway. Donegal accounted for 7% or 42 of the total number of complaints.
Several of these related to the County Donegal Draft Development Plan which was not available in Irish. However, Mr Ó Cuirreáin noted that the council found a solution that was both "reasonable and sensible".
A breakdown of the complaints could not be obtained from the report, however, Mr Ó Cuirreáin said that Donegal does not stand out in any particular way from other counties.
"You would expect the number of complaints from Donegal to higher than other counties because of the large Gaeltacht community there," he explained.
"There is nothing outstanding in relation to Donegal in the report other than a handful of complaints about the draft Development Plan".
The report also reflects an increase of almost 50% in requests from State bodies for advice on language obligations from the Commissioner's office.
"There is no doubt that if a place and space is to be created for the Irish language, then (State bodies) need to be more proactive in the provision of customer services in Irish," added Mr Ó Cuirreáin.
For more information, visit www.coimisineir.ie. Complaints can be made or information sought by contacting An Coimisinéir Teanga at Lo-call Number: 1890-504-006 or An Coimisinéir Teanga, An Spidéal, Co na Gaillimhe; phone: 091-504006; fax: 091-504036 or email feolas@coimisineir.ie
