After a campaign by the Irish government, Irish became an official EU language. There is one native Irish speaker among the MEPs and another five who might use Irish interpretation. Given the few Irish MEPs interested, it was decided that only set-piece speeches would be interpreted. But for Irish MEP de Brún, this was not good enough: ‘The EU must be more ambitious in its pursuit of what is possible for the Irish language.’  Overall translation and interpretation into the Irish language will cost the Parliament over €677,000 each year.

In the first year of Irish ‘official’ status, less than 30 minutes was spoken in the Parliament. The Commission admits that it has frequently interprets into non-official EU languages like Catalan, Galician, and Basque. If the EU keeps letting in new countries, it could be adding further official languages like Croatian, Albanian, Serbian, or Turkish. And if Irish is an official language, what about other languages that enjoy the same status as, Luxemburgish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Welsh, or Russian?