Official Forms

What is in legislation:

Duty of public bodies regarding official forms

9B. (1) For the purpose of prescribing the content and layout of official forms of a public body the Minister may, after consultation with such (if any) Minister of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate having regard to the functions of the public body, prescribe the body for the purposes of this section.
(2) The Minister may, in prescribing a public body under subsection (1), prescribe the contents and layout of official forms of the public body to be in the Irish language or in both the Irish and English languages and different provisions may be made in relation to different public bodies or official forms.
(3) In prescribing the content and layout of forms under subsection (2) the Minister shall have regard to the following matters where text, in the official form concerned, is in both the Irish and English languages:
(a) the order in which the text in each language shall appear in the official form;
(b) the prominence, visibility, legibility, size, font, overall appearance and style of the text, in the official form, of one language with respect to the text of the other language;
(c) the need for each official language to communicate the same message;
(d) the manner in which a title is to be used prior to or after a person’s name in the official form, particularly with reference to acknowledging the different forms of such titles in each language;
(e) the manner in which abbreviated words may be used in each language.
(4) In prescribing the content and layout of forms under subsection (2) the Minister shall have regard to the following matters where text, in the official form concerned, is in the Irish language only:
(a) the manner in which a title is to be used prior to or after a person’s name in the official form, particularly with reference to acknowledging the different forms of such titles in each language;
(b) the manner in which abbreviated words may be used in each language.

When this legislative provision came into effect

These provisions have yet to be commenced.

What this means for me, an Irish Language service user:

When dealing with a body that falls within the scope of the legislation, you have the right to receive the following in relation to official forms for which the Act provided:

That the content and layout of the form in Irish is the same as the English version
That the content of the Irish version is in the same order as the English version
That the text in the Irish version is identical to the text in the English version in relation to prominence, visibility, readability, size, font, and overall appearance and style
That the Irish version and the English version communicate the same message
That titles a person uses comply with the rules set out under Names, Addresses and Titles
That words are not abbreviated in the Irish version that were not abbreviated in the English version

What this means for us, an Irish Language service provider:

The designated body that provides services in Irish must ensure the following in relation to official official forms for which provision is made:

That the content and layout of the form in Irish is the same as the English version
That the content of the Irish version is in the same order as the English version
That the text in the Irish version is identical to the text in the English version in relation to prominence, visibility, readability, size, font, and overall appearance and style
That the Irish version and the English version communicate the same message
That titles a person uses comply with the rules set out under Names, Addresses and Titles
That words are not abbreviated in the Irish version that were not abbreviated in the English version, e.g. June / Meith.