NUIG drops Irish language requirement for staff

Administrative staff hired or promoted at NUI Galway no longer require a level of proficiency in the Irish language.

The university has confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that the automatic requirement for all administrative grade one, two and three workers to have a level of Irish has been removed.

The change was approved by Údarás na hOllscoile, its governing body, at a meeting last year.

It follows a decision made in 2017 by NUIG to remove proficiency in the Irish language as one of the requirements for being president of the university.

According to minutes of the 2020 meeting – released to Galway City Tribune under Freedom of Information – one governing body member objected to the change in policy towards administrative workers having Irish.

The decision to change was recommended by the Academic Council of the university.  It was relayed to Governing Body members by Secretary for Governance and Academic Affairs, Clare McCann.

Ms McCann said that the recommendation was to “revoke the requirement of all administrative staff recruited and/or promoted to Grades 1-3 to have competence in Irish”.

The new rules also set out “governance and management arrangements with regard to the role of Irish in the university”.

One member of the governing body, whose name was redacted in the minutes, “noted her objection to the proposal  . . . expressing the view that the proposal does not adequately advance the role of the Irish language in the university”.

Professor Anne Scott, Vice President for Equality and Diversity, told the meeting that her office had received “at least 15 expressions of concern from staff considering making a complaint regarding the university’s position on the Irish requirement for administrative positions”.

She also noted that “many staff will welcome the passing of this statute”.

In a statement to the Galway City Tribune this week, a spokesperson for the university said: “University services are delivered through Irish and English as outlined in the university’s Scéim Teanga, thereby requiring a number of positions in each unit to have a high level of Irish.

“The automatic requirement for all Administrative Grade 1, 2, 3 posts to have a low level of Irish has been removed. Simultaneously, each hiring manager, when a post is to be filled, must identify who in the unit is capable of conducting the unit’s business through Irish. Only if this requirement is fulfilled can the post be advertised without a requirement for high-level Irish.”

The decision to abandon proficiency in the Irish language as one of the requirements for being president of NUIG was criticised by former Gaeltacht Minister Éamon Ó Cuív.

“Given that there are four centres of Irish in the university that conduct their business through Irish – Galway, Carna, An Cheathrú Rua and Gaoth Dobhair in Donegal – the question should be how could the new president be expected to carry out his or her business without being able to speak Irish,” Deputy Ó Cuív said at the time.

Current president, Professor Ciaran Ó hÓgartaigh was appointed subsequent to that new ruling coming in.

Prof Ó hÓgartaigh is fluent in both languages, carrying on a tradition at NUIG that dates back to 1929 whereby the NUIG President has been able to conduct university business in Irish and English.