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Publication duties
No Irish law names a public body website on its own. The duties reach it sideways. Since 21 December 2024 a body must reply in the language used, including email and social media. Information and marketing emails must be Irish or bilingual. Broader website duties will come from language standards, which the Minister has not yet prescribed.
A reference note from Dan Malone, who builds software products.
The rule
“Where a person communicates in writing, by electronic mail or through social media in an official language with a public body, the public body shall reply in the same language.”
The facts
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Reply in the language you receive | A public body must reply in the same official language when a person writes, emails or posts on social media. In force 21 December 2024. Source |
| Information and marketing communications | A body that writes or emails the public must use Irish, or Irish and English. This covers information and marketing text. Source |
| Bilingual text layout rule | In bilingual text the Irish must not use a smaller font. It must not be less prominent, visible or legible than the English. Source |
| Logos, including website logos | A logo renewed or altered after 21 December 2024 must carry Irish text. Where the text is bilingual, the Irish comes before the English. The definition covers the logo of a website the body runs. Source |
| Contractors are covered | Section 9E applies the same communication duties to a contractor. This covers any public facing service supplied on the body's behalf. In force 21 December 2024. Source |
| Advertising quota | At least 20 per cent of a body's advertising in any year must be in Irish. Section 10A took effect on 10 October 2022. Source |
| Irish-language media spend | At least 5 per cent of yearly advertising money must place Irish-language advertising in Irish-language media. That means media with 50 per cent or more Irish content. Source |
| The 2008 Regulations skip websites | S.I. 391 of 2008 covers stationery, signage and recorded oral announcements only. It sets order, size, prominence and visibility rules for those items. Source |
| Sign prominence deadline | 1 January 2026 was the deadline for signs. The Irish text could not be less prominent, visible or legible than the English. It also covers signs where the Irish letters are smaller. Source |
| Language schemes are repealed | Section 17 repealed sections 11 to 18 of the 2003 Act on 21 December 2024. The Minister can no longer confirm a new scheme. Source |
| Standards are not yet made | The Minister must publish draft standards and allow the public 3 months to give views. The Department says consultation with the bodies concerned comes first. Source |
| Where complaints go | An Coimisinéir Teanga investigates complaints. The Office received 594 complaints in 2024, and 37 per cent concerned the language scheme system. Source |
The artefact
What goes wrong
/01
The English page goes live first and the Irish version follows weeks later, which breaks a simultaneous-publication commitment
/02
Machine translation is published without a professional check, so the Irish carries spelling, grammar and syntax errors
/03
The language toggle drops the user's choice on the next page, so an Irish session falls back to English
/04
Irish pages are left out of the sitemap and the site search, so nobody finds them
/05
The síneadh fada breaks in forms, name fields and confirmation emails, and records the person's name wrongly
/06
A third-party portal for payment, booking or ticketing stays English-only, although section 9E covers services supplied on the body's behalf
/07
A team that does not know the duty answers an Irish email or social media message in English.
/08
An expired language scheme stays on the site. The commitments read as current when they are not.
/09
Irish text is set smaller, in a lighter weight, or behind an extra click, which fails the prominence rule
/10
Advertising spend is counted late in the year, and the 20 per cent and 5 per cent figures are missed
Who supplies this
Statutory office. Section 21(e) of the 2003 Act makes advice to public bodies on their duties one of its functions. It also publishes the regulations timeline and the Irish-language media list.
https://www.coimisineir.ie/
Gaeltacht-based Irish translation and localisation company. Works on public-sector documents, web content and terminology.
https://www.europus.ie/
Irish translation and interpreting supplier used by public bodies. Useful for volume web-content translation and sworn documents.
https://wordperfect.ie/
Irish-language training and translation provider. Runs staff courses that help a body raise internal Irish competence.
https://www.gaelchultur.com/
Free State terminology database. Use it to keep navigation labels, form labels and job titles consistent across a bilingual site.
https://www.tearma.ie/
Free research corpora, legal-term and placename datasets. Helps translators match official wording used in legislation.
https://www.gaois.ie/
Send the duty, the deadline and where it has to sit. What comes back is a written scope for the page, or a straight answer that you do not need one.
Send the briefLast checked 2026-09-01 · Published 2026-09-01
This page is reference material, not legal advice. Your advisor owns what applies to you.