S.I. No. 21/1966:

LOCAL OFFICERS (IRISH LANGUAGE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1966.

LOCAL OFFICERS (IRISH LANGUAGE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1966.

The Minister for Local Government, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Social Welfare and the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in exercise of the powers conferred on each of them by section 13 and paragraphs (g) and (i) of section 19 of the Local Government Act, 1941 , hereby make the following regulations :--

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Officers (Irish Language) (Amendment) Regulations, 1966.

(2) These Regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Local Officers (Irish Language) Regulations, 1944 to 1965 and may be collectively cited therewith as the Local Officers (Irish Language) Regulations, 1944 to 1966.

(3) In these Regulations, " the Principal Regulations " means the Local Officers (Irish Language) Regulations, 1944 (S.R. and O. 1944 No. 76) as amended by the Local Officers (Irish Language) (Amendment) Regulations, 1965 ( S.I. No. 21 of 1965 ).

2. The Principal Regulations shall be amended by the deletion of article 5 and the substitution therefor of the following :--

" 5. Any person who is appointed to an office to which these Regulations apply the duties of which are to be performed in or in relation to any part of the Gaeltacht and who at the time of such appointment does not possess a knowledge of the Irish language sufficient to enable him to perform the duties of the said office through the medium of the said language shall cease to hold such office at the expiration of three years from such appointment or on the 30th day of September, 1966 (whichever is the later), unless he has theretofore satisfied the appropriate Minister in relation to such office that he possesses such a knowledge of the said language."

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Local Government this 31st day of January, 1966.

NEIL T. BLANEY,

Minister for Local Government.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Health this 31st day of January, 1966.

DONOGH O'MALLEY,

Minister for Health.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this 31st day of January, 1966.

CAOIMHGHÍN Ó BEOLÁIN,

Minister for Social Welfare.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries this 31st day of January, 1966.

CHARLES J. HAUGHEY,

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Local Officers (Irish Language) Regulations, 1944, as amended by the Local Officers (Irish Language) (Amendment) Regulations, 1965, provide that any person who is appointed to an office to which those regulations apply the duties of which are to be performed in or in relation to any part of the Gaeltacht and who, at the time of such appointment, does not possess a competent knowledge of the Irish language shall cease to hold such office at the expiration of three years from such appointment or on the 31st day of January, 1966 (whichever is the later) unless he theretofore satisfies the appropriate Minister in relation to such office that he possesses such a knowledge of the Irish language.

The effect of this Order is to substitute the 30th day of September, 1966, for the 31st January, 1966, in the said Regulations.

Pending the implementation of Government policy in relation to offices under local authorities as set out in the White Paper on the Restoration of the Irish Language this further extension of the Regulations is necessary to safeguard the position of local authority officers who would otherwise be liable to dismissal on the expiry date i.e. 31st January, 1966, specified in the 1965 amending Regulations.