Offaly County Council hauled over coals for 'complete disregard' for statutory obligations
OFFALY County Council has been hauled over the coals for its disregard for the Office of the then Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, following its breach of the statutory language obligations under the official languages act 2003.
In its annual report the Office of the commissioner said three complaints were made to the Office between October 2017 and January 2019, regarding the lack of Irish on Offaly County Council signs in Tullamore, Edenderry and Birr.
These complaints were queried with the council through the informal process that the commissioner said his office operates as a first step in the investigation process.
''Notwithstanding ongoing efforts by my office, including a letter from myself to the Chief Executive of the council, in August 2019 the council was unable to provide a response or a complete response to those complaints and on that basis I decided to launch an investigation,'' said Mr Ó Domhnaill.
However he said he was ''deeply disappointed at the lack of progress made through the informal process...''
He said the issue could have been easily rectified, however, he continued '' It was a poor reflection on the County Council that I deemed it necessary to undertake an investigation a second time to determine findings and recommendations in the case.''
He said the council completely failed to respond to the investigation and to provide the information requested, despite a significant number of attempts by his Office to seek co-operation.
''As a result of the lack of action by Offaly County Council on this case, I took the unusual decision on July 2021 to require the Chief Executive of the County Council to attend before me and to provide me with oral information in relation to the subject matter for the investigation.''
An apology was made on behalf of Offaly County Council for the lack of engagement and a promise was made that the issues were being investigated and would be responded to. This was confirmed again in a letter dated 26 August 2021.
''Considering the correspondence and co-operation promised by the Council, I decided at that time not to require the Chief Executive of the Council to appear before me to give oral evidence,'' he stated.
However, following lack of cooperation he wrote again on August 17 2022, but didn't receive a response until November 9, 2022.
He said while Offaly County Council apologised, ''no explanation was given as to why or how it occurred within the timeline provided.''
''I'm not aware of any other public body which has shown such complete disregard for co-operation with the Office since the commencement of the Official Languages Act 2003. During my nine years as Coimisinéir Teanga no other local authority, or indeed any other public body, to my knowledge, has been as dilatory and unresponsive in communicating with my Office as Offaly County Council during this investigation.''
He recommended that the signs mentioned be corrected within three months so that they would be in accordance with regulations made under the Official Languages Act 2003 regarding the use of the official languages on signs, or in accordance with the language provisions contained in the Traffic Signs Manual.
He also recommended that all new signs erected would henceforth be in accordance with the relevant language legislation.
The investigation was launched on June 9, 2020 and the report issued on December 19 2022.