Conradh na Gaeilge has claimed that the Taoiseach is "badly advised" in relation to the demand for status of Irish as an official and working language in the EU.
In response to a question by Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny in the Dáil on Wednesday, Mr Ahern stated that official status as a language of the EU is "based on the premise that a language must be in total administrative use within a country".
Conradh na Gaeilge insists the Taoiseach's claim has no basis in law or fact and that language use internally is "not a consideration when deciding whether or not to recognise a language as an official EU language".
The group emphasised that Irish is used in official business at all levels of public administration in Ireland including the judicial, parliamentary and public administrative systems.
Conradh na Gaeilge supports STÁDAS, a group comprised of representatives of Irish language groups, educators and legal figures, formed to lobby the Government for the inclusion of Irish as an official EU language.
As part of the campaign, an online petition has been in circulation calling on the Government to ask that Irish be included as an official EU language.
