The Houses of the Oireachtas have said they are unwilling to implement new legislation relating to the simultaneous translation of legislation into Irish, unless the receive written guarantees from Government on extra funding to cover the costs.
It follows a dispute between the Department of the Gaeltacht and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission on who bore responsibility for complying with new legislation on Irish translations. TDs and senators have been informed that the department has now given a series of commitments on additional funding following protests by the commission, which is responsible for the operation of the Dáil and Seanad, that it had no legal obligation to comply with key provisions in the Official Languages Act.
The commission has now sought a written commitment from the Government on additional resources before it changes this position.
A series of meetings and discussions took place between the commission and the department over the dispute, which began earlier this year after it was informed by letter by Minister for the Gaeltacht Éamon Ó Cuív that it would soon be required to ensure the simultaneous translation into Irish and English of all legislation passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Simultaneous translation of legislation is one of the key requirements under the Official Languages Act, and it will become a legal requirement from the beginning of next year at the latest.
According to the minutes of the commission's March meeting, it was decided to reject any suggestion it should be held responsible for implementing this requirement, and it called for an independent agency to be established instead to adhere to the translation requirements.
"It was clear that these obligations do not rest with the commission and that the commission is not subject to any legal requirement to take them on," the minutes of the meeting state.
The commission decided to send a delegation, headed by Minister of State Brian Lenihan, to meet with Mr Ó Cuív in May, to "explain the commission's position on the issue".
The delegation, which also consisted of Independent senator Joe O'Toole and Labour senator Brendan Howlin, was "not able to report further progress", the commission reported in its monthly meeting in May.
A potential breakthrough in the dispute emerged last month following discussions between officials from the commission and the department.
Minutes of last month's commission meeting reported that the Department of the Gaeltacht had indicated it would be prepared to provide a written guarantee to meet the additional funding requirements for the translation and to ring-fence it in the commission's budget.
The department also committed to ensuring access to translators through a civil service recruitment drive and a guarantee that no additional translation work would be given to the Oireachtas staff.