Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has accused College of being in “direct breach” of Irish language legislation, demanding increased funding of the Irish Language Office as a remedy.
In a statement released on Friday, the union claimed that since July alone, “students have received responses in English to emails sent in Irish from at least six College departments”, a violation of the Official Languages Act 2003.
As a public body, College is obliged to answer “all electronic correspondence received in Irish” in Irish, including emails and social media messages.
On Friday, union sabbatical officers stuck a banner onto scaffolding surrounding the campanile reading “Cá bhfuil an Ghaeilge?” (“Where is the Irish?”) to highlight College’s failure to meet provisions of the Official Languages Act.
Additionally, College has been required since 2013 to ensure that all signage on campus be in Irish, all stationary include the version of College’s logo where the two languages are equal, and that all recorded oral announcements be in Irish, points on which TCDSU says College has failed.
According to a statement, TCDSU has asked College on a multitude of occasions to provide more funding to the Irish Language Office in order to fulfil the growing list of legal Irish language obligations.
“The equivalent office in UCD is a full office with four full time employees to ensure the fulfilment of the legislation while providing a platform for the language to grow within the university”.
Currently, Trinity’s Irish Language Office has just one full time employee.
The union have demanded that funding for the Irish language office be tripled, and a full time translation officer and academic language planning officer be hired “in order to properly” meet legal obligations.
“We demand an Irish language action plan from College [including explicit] mention of the expansion of the aforementioned office in Trinity’s upcoming Strategic Plan 2025-2029,” the union said.
“As today’s action has shown, we are determined on this issue and will not stop advocating until solutions are reached.”
In a statement to Trinity News, a spokesperson for College “[thanked] and [commended] the students’ union for its advocacy for the Irish language”.
“This is already the subject of ongoing engagement” they added. They did not directly address claims made in TCDSU’s statement.
In February, Trinity students voted overwhelmingly in favour of the creation of a full-time Irish language officer within the students’ union. Pádraig Mac Brádaigh, who served part-time in the role last year, was elected unopposed to the new role in March.
