The director of services for the new rannán - which will produce Irish versions of secondary legislation such as statutory instruments - will receive a salary of €97,000-120,000. According to Nuacht TG4, the post will also carry an allowance of €13,000.

Funding for the new unit will come from “within existing allocations”, the Houses of the Oireachtas communications unit said.

The intention is “to develop the capacity of the private sector to provide outsourced translation services at the requisite standard and to meet needs by a mixture of staff recruitment, outsourcing to the private sector and providing advisory and support services to departments and other rule-making authorities”.

The unit will tackle a large backlog of statutory instruments from 1993 to 2004 – some 46,000 pages – which require translation.

The existing Rannóg an Aistriúcháin will continue to produce Irish versions of primary legislation. It costs just over €1.3 million annually and employs 17 translators. This unit also produces order papers and minutes of proceedings for both Houses of the Oireachtas, along with simultaneous translation services for both Houses and one Oireachtas committee.

In 2004, a High Court ruling in a case taken by Dublin-based solicitor Pól Ó Murchú found there was a constitutional responsibility to publish statutory instruments simultaneously in Irish and English. The Government appealed to the Supreme Court, citing issues relating to “the correct interpretation of specific constitutional and legislative provisions and in relation to the separation of powers as between the executive and the judicial arms of the State”.

However, the Government has said that "regardless of the outcome of the appeal, the Government has decided as a matter of principle that statutory instruments should be made available in Irish”. (Source: Irish Times)