A question to those of you in Ireland? Do you any companies which actually make some use of Irish and to what extent they are using it?

Hi! I was in Galway last week using O Neachtain's bus tour through the Burren! the bus driver was from An Spideal but he didnt speak in Irish at all apart from the odd place name!..I was a bit shocked that he didnt make more of it as he was giving the tour while drivng; a tour of 5 hours!!

Didnt really see many companies there using Irish signs either as I would have expected;however there was more than ghere in the Pale!

check out http://www.forbairtfeirste.com/ in belfast...

from their site:

Current Work
To promote Irish in the economic sector Forbairt Feirste is implementing a two pronged strategy:
training provision for the Irish speaking community so that the Irish speaking workforce will be confident and highly skilled
Promotion of Irish in every aspect of business life so that Irish speakers will have an advantage and extra opportunities in the job market

The only real market for services in Irish is publishing books.

There is a Telecoms service operator Rua Telecom, offering a phone service in Irish; but I don't know much about them.

Then there are a number of translation and publicity companies.

I don't know about companies who work internally in Irish - there may be some.

The Language Act will increase the use by public bodies of Irish - this may create a market demand for other private companies to follow suit.

I believe ESAT (Telecoms) provide billing in Irish, but I don't know. My wife is German, so I haven't gone chasing companies to send us bills in Irish.

But our chequebook, from Bank of Ireland, is in Irish. And some of their ATMs have a language choice Irish. (The one in Malahide, where I work, for example).

Fiontair, a computing & business course in Irsih at DCU has its graduates start a business in final year. Some of these companies live on, and use some Irish internally - Zampano (a mobile services operator) is one.

And then there are several independent TV production companies which TG4 has called into existence.

Bank of Ireland's ATMs in Marino and on Suffolk Street are as Ghaeilge as well...companies have to be really pushed to make the smallest effort-really pathetic when you think of it! Tesco a foreign company has made more effort to put some of its signs as Ghaeilge (even if they are non visible and badly done!!!)than most Irish companies!

Ta mo chomlacht sin le ainm an-ghaelach! Bord Gais Eireann!

That's true. Most supermarkets and bookshops now have bilingual signage; although sometimes the results are amusing.

Easons had a famous sign "Armlóin" for magazines...

Is comhlucht stáit Bord Gáis Éireann. Cuireann sé le banaí mé nuair a chloisim iriseoirí RTÉ ag caint ar "Bored Gosh"

Rua Telecom http://www.ruatelecom.netfirms.com/

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir!! That's very useful indeed. Diarmo, I've had the same experience with O Neachtain - it's a shame, I think... As for An Spidéal, it is more common to hear English than Irish in the street there.. :-(

I've noticed the bilingual signs, though. There seems to be more of them each time I visit Dublin and Galway.

Bilingual signs and the like definitely are on the increase--when you pick up the phone directory now all the State services and departments are listed as Ghaeilge as well somethign that didnt happen before!

An tAcht Teangain ag dul i bhfeidhm orthu, buíochas le Dia agus Ó Cuiv!

'Zamano' not Zampano. And Cúram, a software firm that has carved a niche for itself in providing software for management and eligibility determination for means-tested public benefits programs.