‘These are the people you need to talk to’: the role of non-state organizations in international policy transfer to Ireland’s Ofﬁcial Languages Act (2003) CLARERIGG , MUIRIS ÓLAOIREANDVASILIKIGEORGIOU

doi:10.4324/9780203749395-16

Chapter

‘These are the people you need to talk to’: the role of non-state organizations in international policy transfer to Ireland’s Ofﬁcial Languages Act (2003) CLARERIGG , MUIRIS ÓLAOIREANDVASILIKIGEORGIOU

Chapter

ABSTRACT

Ireland’s Ofﬁcial Languages Act (OLA) was passed into law on 14th July 2003. This was the ﬁrst, formally articulated, overarching language policy document in the country, eighty years after the declaration of Irish in the 1922 constitution as the national language, and the additional constitutional categorization in 1937 as ‘the ﬁrst ofﬁcial language’ (Mac Giolla Chríost, 2005: 112). The OLA set in legislation, for the ﬁrst time since the Irish state was created, the right of members of the public to avail of public services in both Irish Gaelic (Gaeilge) and English. It does not apply to commercial companies.