A Donegal County Councillor claims he has been discriminated against by the local authority for his choice to use his native language when conducting council business.
Councillor Micheal Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig met this week with the Chief Executive of Donegal County Council following a recent SPC meeting where Councillor MacGiolla Easbuig left after he was denied a translator and asked to submit his questions in English.
Councillor MacGiolla Easbuig claims for the past five years no translator service has been in place at the SPC.
He believes there is a clear inequality in existence:
In response, Donegal County Council says it has taken steps over the past number of years to increase the use of simultaneous interpretation services between Irish and English at a range of its meetings which has involved investment in new equipment, the provision of Council staff to carry out the translations, and also the use of external interpreters when required.
The local authority says it will continue to review the provision of translation services and and to change the current policy subject to the agreement of the overall Council in relation to the commitment of the necessary resources to support any extension of existing arrangements.
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