European Parliament website available in Irish

The European Parliament website is now available in Irish, the parliament has announced in a press statement. All major sections of the Europarl website are now in Irish, including the Portal, News, MEPs, About Parliament, Plenary, Committees, and Delegations. The mobile version and the visitors’ website – Visits, Parlamentarium, House of European History – are also available in Irish-language versions. In addition, the website’s newsroom is updated daily in Irish and includes major stories and election-related content. There are also dedicated election and results websites in Irish to cover the forthcoming European elections and the parliament is tweeting in Irish at @Europarl_GA.

Conradh na Gaeilge has “heartily welcomed” the development and has commended the parliament for providing “such a valuable resource to the Irish-speaking citizens of Europe”.

General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge, Mr Julian de Spáinn, said that the parliament was to be “be applauded for leading the way in the promotion of linguistic diversity and for upholding the language rights of Irish speakers across the EU. The Irish Government should follow suit and officially submit a request not to renew the current derogation on the status of Irish in the European Union.

“Irish can now take its proper place amongst the other 23 languages of the European Union and Conradh na Gaeilge will strongly support the European Parliament’s efforts to engage with its citizens in the language of their choice by spreading the word of the Irish version of the website amongst its members and the general public.”

He said it was timely that the website had been translated to Irish in the run-up to the European elections and that the site was “exemplary in the extent of both the static and the current content available in Irish”.

However, he continued that it was “embarrassing that there were many Government departments and public bodies that fail to provide even a quarter of their website’s static content in Irish, while the European Parliament has managed to include up-to-date information and news releases in Irish as well as a variety of multimedia products. It is obvious that the European Parliament values its Irish-speaking citizens and has accordingly given Irish speakers, in Ireland and on the continent, an invaluable online resource with its new website, tablet app, infographics and social media tools, all in Irish”.