Derry City and Strabane District Council is committed to promoting access to Council services and information in the Irish language to members of the public from across the City and District.
The Council currently offers a range of services in Irish including; responding to correspondence received in Irish; operating a dedicated Irish language Line telephone and voicemail service; providing translation and interpretation services; facilitating applications in Irish i.e. births, deaths and marriage certificates; and providing Irish language street and road signage upon request.
The Council can even offer support to local business which are keen to promote the Irish language to their customer base.
Irish Language Officer, Erin Hamilton said: “A recent survey carried out by Council showed that 94% of users were happy or very happy with our Irish language services.
“96% of those would use the service again and would recommend the service to others.
“We believe that these high levels of satisfaction reflect our commitment to providing services of the highest standard to Irish speakers across our Council area and we are delighted that the public is availing of these opportunities to conduct their business with Council in Irish.
“I would invite the public to make use of these existing services and engage with us to help and grow these services in line with customer need.”
In addition to providing a range of services in Irish, the Council also organises a programme of events to help promote and celebrate the Irish language throughout the year, including Irish Language Week and a school engagement programme for the Irish medium sector.
The Council also oversees the Irish Language Community Network Forum which offers opportunities for the Irish language community to meet directly with Council and with other relevant stakeholders to discuss opportunities for language promotion within the city and district.
Anyone wishing to avail of the Council’s Irish language services should contact the Irish Language Officer, Erin Hamilton, on 028 7137 6579 or by emailing [email protected].
A full list of the Council’s Irish language services is available at: www.derrystrabane.com/gaeilge
And regular news updates are available via: www.facebook.com/foramphobalnagaeilge and https://twitter.com/foramphobal
