Interim Policy for the Provision of Services and Information in Irish

1.1    Background

For the administration of its functions, the principal language of the EA is English.

The EA recognises our responsibilities under;

• The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages
• The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
• Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights
• Articles 19 and 27 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights

These provisions are integral to protecting and promoting regional and minority languages.

Everyone is entitled to respect and courtesy, which extends to their language and the Education Authority recognises the Irish Language as an expression of the cultural wealth of Northern Ireland.

1.2    Purpose

This Interim Policy for the Provision of Services and Information in Irish (the Policy) is to assist Education Authority (EA) officers in making decisions around the provision of services and information in the Irish Language, and arrangements for those seeking to interact with the EA in Irish.

This Policy may be updated and/or replaced following the appointment of an Irish Language Commissioner, emanating from Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill, the New Decade New Approach political agreement, and the publication of the Irish Language Standards for Public Authorities and the associated Guidance, as they apply to the Education Authority.

The Policy seeks to ensure that EA embeds consistent practices around communicating in Irish Language and will support officers in applying consistent judgement to the provision of information and services in the Irish Language.

The Department of Education has a statutory duty to “encourage and facilitate” the development of Irish-Medium education and requires the Education Authority, as well as other Arm’s Length Bodies, to support it in fulfilling this duty. Irish Medium education is provided through a number of ‘stand-alone’ Irish Medium schools, both primary and post-primary. The majority of which are in the ‘Voluntary Maintained’ category, with a small number directly under the management of EA, as controlled schools. Irish Medium education is also provided through Irish Medium Units attached to English Medium schools, most of which are under the management of CCMS, as they are attached to CCMS schools. One is attached to a Voluntary Grammar School.

The EA currently provides a wide range of support services to all Irish Medium schools and Units, across all Directorates.

This Policy refers to EA’s Corporate Services and does not cover Irish language provision in the curriculum. There are separate arrangements for the provision of Irish Medium Education, outside of the scope of this document.

The Chair, Chief Executive and Board Members are accountable for the overall performance of EA. Matters of equality, good relations and human rights are central to this accountability and central to the discharge of governance responsibilities.

3.1 The Chief Executive is accountable to the Board for the development, implementation, maintenance, and review of the Interim Irish Language Policy.

3.2 Team Members are responsible for: 

• providing assurance to the Board; and
• seeking assurance that the Interim Irish Language Policy is being applied correctly.

3.3 Directors are responsible for:

• ensuring that all lead policy officers have been trained; and
• providing assurance to the Chief Executive and the Board that decisions in their area of responsibility have been made in line with this policy.

3.4 Assistant Directors and Heads of Service are responsible for:

• Ensuring that all staff are aware of the policy and its requirements;
• Ensuring that relevant staff undertake training, as appropriate; and
• Providing assurance to Directors that decisions in their area of responsibility have been made in line with this policy.

3.5 Equality Unit staff are responsible for:

• providing EA officers with the opportunity to attend focused training;
• providing support, advice, and guidance to lead policy officers to officers in applying the policy;
• monitoring the effectiveness of the policy through feedback; and
• managing the translation of documents into Irish

3.6 All staff are responsible for:

• Ensuring they are familiar with the contents of the policy; and
• Applying the policy to their work.

4.1. Personal Names

A person is legally entitled to assume any name they wish and if they are generally known by that name, it is valid for the purposes of legal identification in relation to EA services.

Staff will respect the wishes of all our customers, and their colleagues, to be known by their generally used name, whether in English or Irish.

If a person gives their name in Irish, staff will make every effort to ensure that they pronounce and/or write that person’s name correctly. If staff have difficulty with spelling or pronouncing the person’s name, they will ask that person to help them.

If an officer believes that the person may have previously used the English version of their name, they may ask if they now want to be known by the Irish version of their name. Effort should be made to avoid duplication in both English and Irish and the preferred name should be always be used. Staff may keep a record of both versions on file.

In short, a person may use whatever form of their name they choose, and this right should not be questioned. Every effort should be made to spell and pronounce the person’s name correctly.

4.2. Addresses

The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 provides that a District Council may place a version of a street name in another language, as well as English.

When a person has used a lawful Irish street name in correspondence or on official forms when applying for services provided by EA, staff will use the Irish form when processing forms or replying to correspondence.

Both Irish and English versions of the address will be kept on record.

Where a third party is involved, for example, Jobs and Benefits Office, to verify a service user’s status, both the Irish and English versions of the street address may be shown.
 

4.3. Correspondence

The Education Authority will accept written correspondence in Irish. An acknowledgement will be issued in Irish within two working days.

The EA standard for responding to correspondence in English is within 10 working days unless more time is required due to the complexity of the response.

Taking into account the need to have the information translated, a substantive response will be issued in Irish, within 15 working days, unless more time is needed, in which case, the service user will be informed, in Irish that this is the case.

4.4. Telephone calls and voicemails

If a customer begins a conversation in Irish on the telephone, staff who speak Irish will conduct the call in Irish.

If the staff member does not speak Irish, the service user will be offered the option of continuing the conversation in English. If, however, the service user would prefer to conduct the call in Irish, they will be offered the following options:

1. They will be asked if they would like to leave a message on an Irish Language voicemail service. An appropriate officer will aim to contact the service user within 3 working days of the message being left. The service user should be informed, that whilst we will endeavour to return the call and conduct the business in Irish, it may need to be conducted in English.
    
2. If the service user would prefer, they can write to the Education Authority. Their correspondence will be acknowledged in, and replied to in, Irish. The Education Authority aims to respond to all correspondence within two working days and provide a detailed response within ten working days. This time may be extended to 15 working days, whilst the correspondence is translated.

4.5. Face to face meetings

If a service user begins to speak in Irish and the EA employee does not speak Irish, the EA employee will explain they do not speak Irish and the service user will be offered the following options:

• To continue to conversation in English;
• To write into the Authority in Irish; or
• To arrange an appointment.

Should the service user prefer to conduct their business in Irish and opts to arrange an appointment, generally* an interpreter will be arranged. This can be arranged through the Equality Unit (equality.unit@eani.org.uk)

*A general exemption to providing an interpreter may be during recruitment exercises, where it may be necessary to test the communication skills of the applicant in English.

4.6. Translations

In line with the letter and spirit of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, the Education Authority will translate documents into Irish.

It is acknowledged that the availability of Irish Language translators is limited, and this can therefore impact on the time taken to provide translations. Depending on the complexity of the materials, it can generally take up to two weeks to translate documents into Irish. For simpler documents, such as for example, a response to correspondence, this can take up to five working days.

EA officers are required, however, to effectively plan the delivery of their work in line with the recognised timeframes for providing upfront translations and will therefore endeavour to have translations available, upfront, without request, where these are deemed appropriate.

EA will provide translations on the following basis:

• Correspondence received in Irish will be acknowledged in Irish (using a standard acknowledgment) and replied to in Irish. This may take up to 15 working days to provide the response.
   
• EA documents produced, for example, consultation documents, that are directly related to Irish Medium Education or Irish Medium Youth Services, will be translated upfront into Irish, before publication.
   
• EA documents that are produced that are not directly related to Irish Medium Education or Irish Medium Youth Services, but will have a substantial impact on those services, will be translated upfront into Irish before publication.
   
• EA documents or resources, that are produced directly for young people, for example, resources for schools to use with young people, will be translated upfront into Irish, before publication. This includes verbal materials, such as for example, information videos. This is in line with supporting the immersive learning experience of young people in Irish Medium Education.
   
• Key pieces of information relating to the corporate functions of the Education Authority will be translated into Irish and placed on the EA website, alongside the English language. For example, how to contact the Education Authority or how to leave a compliment or make a complaint.
   
• For all other information, requests for Irish translations of English language documents or resources will be considered in line with the above criteria.

Translations are managed centrally by the Equality Unit. To request a translation, Officers should email equality.unit@eani.org.uk

4.7. Staff Training and Awareness

Staff training on Irish Language is available to staff as part of the annual training programme from the Equality and Diversity Unit. All staff are eligible to undertake the training which is non-mandatory.

The training covers:

• the legal framework for Irish Language
• an overview of Irish Culture
• an over-view of Irish Medium Education
• the role of EA and other sector bodies, such as Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta
• the Irish Language; structure, key phrases, and pronunciations

The training will be classroom based (or virtual) and is approximately 2.5 hours.

For further information on the training, please contact equality.unit@eani.org.uk 

For those staff who wish to avail of further training, an on-line eLearning module is available, which covers

• basic conversation structure
• phrases
• language generally

If staff are directly involved in delivering services to Irish Medium schools or youth services, line managers are expected to allow staff time to undertake this training. If staff are not directly involved in delivering services to Irish Medium schools or youth services, it is at the discretion of the line manager to allow staff time to complete the eLearning training.

For those staff interested in the training, this can be accessed at any time, outside of normal working hours.

From time to time, awareness will be raised of the Irish Language, as it relates to Irish Medium Education and EA Services across EA’s communication channels and internally amongst staff.

4.8. Policy and decision making 

When making decisions about service development or strategic planning, officers will consider the impact any decisions may have on the delivery of Irish Medium education services. This will be managed through EA’s robust policy screening process.

EAs Equality Scheme has placed the voice of children and young people at the centre of decision-making. The engagement process for engaging young people will include facilitated and structured engagement with Irish speaking children and young people.

5.1    Dissemination

This Interim Policy is for all EA Corporate Services staff.

Assistant Directors and Heads of Service are responsible for ensuring that the Interim Policy is disseminated and understood within their service areas.

Dissemination can take place through the following means (list is not exhaustive):

• inclusion in staff briefings;
• raising the issue at staff meetings;
• EA corporate communication; and
• EA intranet and internet sites.

5.2    Exceptions   

This policy refers to EA’s Corporate Services and does not cover Irish language provision in the curriculum. There are separate arrangements for the provision of Irish Medium Education, outside of the scope of this document.

This Interim Policy will be monitored and kept under review by the Equality Unit. Should any part of this Interim Policy prove difficult to implement, feedback should be sent to the Equality Unit at equality.unit@eani.org.uk

This policy was consulted on as part of a target engagement and consultation exercise with affected stakeholders.

In line with the Authority’s duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 a screening exercise has been carried out.  A copy of the screening template is available on the EA website: www.eani.org.uk

In line with the Authority’s duties under the Data Protection Act, 2018, all personal and sensitive information processed in line with this policy will be administered in line with the Authorities duties under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). EA is obliged to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation when processing personal information. We have published detailed Privacy Notices on our website www.eani.org.uk/privacy which provide further information on how EA processes personal information as well as details on how to contact us if you have any questions.