Galway City Council’s second ever bilingual meeting

Speaking as Gaeilge, Cllr Keane said it was a “special occasion” and that he was “very proud to have you all here at the meeting”.

“This is our second time to run the meeting through Irish. It is a great sign for the future as we are a bilingual city,” said Cllr Keane.

Also speaking in Irish, Chief Executive of Galway City Council Leonard Cleary said he wanted the Irish language to be at the forefront of council work.

“Spring is upon us in many ways,” he said, having quoted Irish poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí as “an inspiration and guidance for the council for the future”.

“As spring approaches, we are looking forward to ten major projects,” he said.

“As the day is getting longer, we are maintaining the seeds planted by the council. Some are in bloom and others are close to getting there.”

He said there are “elements of the Irish language all around us in the council and that is great to see”.

He described how steps have been taken to build an Irish-language panel, the importance of which was reiterated by Irish Language Officer Marcus Ó Conaire.

“The Chief Executive has committed to starting a panel of Irish-speaking clerical staff,” said Marcus Ó Conaire.

“No department will be without a dedicated employee for dealing with business in Irish. The provision of services through Irish will be normalised. Real progress has been made and the Irish language is more visible.”

Under the Official Languages Act, all public sector organisations are obliged to have 20% of staff competent in the Irish language by 2030, and Mr Ó Conaire said the groundwork must be laid now to reach that target.

During the meeting, interpreters were available through headsets, with documentation available in English and Irish.

Several councillors put forward motions and made contributions as Gaeilge, including Labour's Cllr Helen Ogbu, who received a round of applause in the chamber.

Since 2006, Galway City has had four Language Schemes, which are now incorporated into the Official Languages Act.

“Nationally, the level of service is more ambitious since the Language Act,” continued Ó Conaire.

“The Irish language deserves to be respected. That is a key driver for us.”

Meanwhile, Galway City Council agreed to hold their May meeting in the Michael D Higgins auditorium in the Aula Maxima at the University of Galway.

“We will take our meeting out of City Hall and this shows our strong link with University of Galway,” said Cllr Keane.​​​​​​​