Minister wants a tenth of public servants to be Gaeilgeoirs

Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, Joe McHugh has raised the prospect of increasing the recruitment of Irish speakers in the public service from 6 per cent to 10 per cent.

Joe McHugh TD, Minister of State for the Gaeltacht: looking at raising recruitment of Irish speakers to civil service. Picture: Feargal Ward

Two years ago, the government scrapped points bonuses for Irish speakers applying to join the civil service, but put in a target that 6 per cent of all new civil servants hired should be able to speak Irish.

McHugh said he was now giving “serious consideration” to raising this target to 10 per cent to boost the numbers of Irish speakers in the public service.

“If a parent from Gweedore [in the Donegal ...