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2020 image of posters outside the GPO on O'Connell Street encouraging greater use of the Irish language Alamy Stock Photo

Dublin City Council to hold first ever meeting entirely in Irish, with live interpreting

Dublin’s Lord Mayor said it’s the first time in the history of the state that a council meeting will be done 100% as Gaeilge.

LAST UPDATE | 4 Mar 2024

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL will tonight hold its monthly council meeting completely in Irish for the first time ever, with questions and the agenda having been translated beforehand. 

The Council has partnered with Conradh na Gaeilge to ensure that both those with and without a cúpla focal can take part. 

The idea was put forward by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Fianna Fáil councillor Daithí de Róiste, who said he’s delighted to see the initiative take shape.

“It’s the first time ever in the history of the state I believe that a council meeting will be done 100% as Gaeilge,” de Róiste told The Journal.

“It’s important for Dublin City Council to undertake this initiative and demonstrate that we can do more of our business in Irish.”

Friday marked the beginning of Seachtain na Gaeilge and de Róiste said this is a great way to kick start the event.

He added: “We’ve partnered with Conradh na Gaeilge, who have been a massive help to both myself and to the wider Council team.

“We’ve put together the entire meeting’s business as Gaeilge, so for those both with only a cúpla focal all the way up to those who are fluent, there will be services available.”

For anyone present in the chamber, there will be live interpreting services available.

De Róiste said work has also been undertaken on various parts of the agenda that might need to be translated for councillors, as well as translating councillor’s questions.

“A lot of effort has gone on in the background to make this a success,” said de Róiste.

“For those with a cúpla focal, we were able to work with them through the agenda, making the translation service available to them, and translating their questions as well beforehand so that they feel comfortable speaking.

“This has been a collaborative approach between all 63 elected officials and the executive in order to be able to do this for Seachtain na Gaeilge.”

De Róiste added that the meeting has to be “inclusive, not exclusive”.

“It’s just as important for somebody with a couple of words of Irish right up to somebody who’s fluent.

“When I brought this initiative forward, councillors wholeheartedly endorsed it, and I wanted inclusivity to make sure everybody feels welcome in tonight’s meeting, and I do believe we’ve achieved that.

“And for Dublin City Council as the largest local authority in the state to be able to take this on, so long it’s a success, it’ll demonstrate to other local authorities that they too can do it.

“Maybe next year, most local authorities in the state will be able to do this as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge.”

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    Mute Jondis88
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    Oct 8th 2022, 8:05 AM

    Another example of a government body hiding behind GDPR. Since 2016/2018 is a long time wait for a review to be conducted Nobody wants personal information published. People only want statistics.

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    Mute Paul Clancy
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    Oct 8th 2022, 9:36 AM

    @Jondis88: hiding behind or abiding by? Seeing as they used to provide the information before someone flagged the issue your comment seems more cynical then factual.

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    Mute John Moylan
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    Oct 9th 2022, 11:20 AM

    @Paul Clancy: hiding, it’s not that hard to understand

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    Mute Mark Dawson
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    Oct 8th 2022, 9:04 AM

    Where was GDPR when during covid we had to sign a book with our name and phone numbers to get into a pub or restaurant, everyone cud see anyone else’s name and phone number and was no guidelines on how businesses handled this information, GDPR my u know

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    Mute
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    Oct 8th 2022, 8:11 AM

    GDPR has been in place for more than 5 years.

    Why are implementation, policy & procedures still being discussed? What have the RSA been doing for the last half-decade?

    Ireland seems to have a real difficulty in understanding GDPR, what is the problem here?

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Oct 8th 2022, 8:38 AM

    @: Laziness. That’s the problem right there.

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    Mute Appaddy
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    Oct 8th 2022, 8:30 AM

    Gdpr the greatest protector of beaurocracy for both public services and private organisations. Yet Facebook, twitter etc can publish slanderous material from unknown sources without redress
    Where is the balance there?
    This follows hot on the heals of the original SHAWW act, but thankfully that has brought safety management to a new level. I cannot say the same for GDPR though.

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    Mute Mark Dawson
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    Oct 8th 2022, 10:30 AM

    GDPR relates to people’s personal information not satisics of accidents or other general information, dosent add up

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Oct 8th 2022, 6:49 PM

    @Mark Dawson: so true – besides the akward reality that EVERY organisation in Ireland were asked to be prepared in advance for how to handle any changes GDPR might have on their organisations – it simply embarrassing for a govt agency to be this inefficient and far behind updating HOW they do their job and meet any new requirements GDPR may have – as many others have said this is a distraction – all these people were paid to work from home for 2 years and could and should have done whatever paper shuffling required to be able to report statistics while respecting personal data – safe bet EVERY other eu country has been able to report stats on road accidents since GDPR was implemented – who gets to ask RSA for some clear explanations – guarantee you it’s not genuinely a GDPR issue

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    Mute Jim O'Sullivan
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    Oct 8th 2022, 10:15 AM

    Can we get rid of all these quangos and place responsibility where it belongs, the very well-paid Minister for Transport? The RSA was set up to give the well-connected nice little earners when they retire.

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    Mute Fergal McDonagh
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    Oct 8th 2022, 10:27 AM

    Just redact the personal details ffs.
    Not rocket science.

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    Mute Mick McGuinness
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    Oct 8th 2022, 9:28 AM

    GDPR is really becoming a problem in many way’s. Relax it or get wrid of it simple.

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    Mute Jason Walsh
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    Oct 8th 2022, 1:20 PM

    Safety engineers need that statistical data to be able to do their jobs. All that is needed is location, collision type, vehicles involved and date and time. How is that breaking GDPR rules, it simply isn’t.

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    Mute Name Goes Here
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    Oct 8th 2022, 10:12 AM

    That’s just an excuse, create unique complex identifiers for anything that wouldve been identifiable and delete the original identifier.

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    Mute Conor Kirwan
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    Oct 9th 2022, 3:40 PM

    Nonsense! Just a poor understanding of GDPR on the RSA’s side. There is a specified purpose for publishing (ie processing personal data) in that manner as it serves a public health interest.

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