Press release
Internship Scheme in European Union Institutions now includes interpreters
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
Funding of €1.288 million has been announced by the Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport, Jack Chambers, for the expansion of the highly successful Internship Scheme in European Union Institutions for 2022-2025.
The internship scheme, which commenced in 2018 with the intention of providing opportunities for graduates to acquire work placements in the specialised subject field of translation and proofreading, has now been expanded to include conference interpreters.
The expanded scheme will include the appointment of up to 4 interpreter interns who will undertake work experience in the autumn. An allowance of €2,000 per month will be made available for the internships for a period of 6 months – 2 months language placement and 4 months intensive training in the Directorate-General for Interpretation in the European Commission. Funding of up to €322,000 has been approved annually for the internship scheme over a 4-year period.
Minister of State Jack Chambers said:
“I am delighted to announce the expansion of this very successful internship scheme to include interpreting for the first time. The scheme provides Irish speakers with an opportunity to experience working life in Europe, to receive training from the institutions, and to add to their skills, providing them with improved prospects in recruitment competitions in the future. Feedback from both the participants and the various EU institutions has been extremely positive and the success of the scheme has been evidenced by many interns securing jobs in the institutions. I wish continued success to the interns in this special year where we celebrate 50 years of membership of the EU.”
Further information regarding the scheme is available on www.gov.ie
The Irish Language was awarded status as an official and working language of the EU from 1 January 2007 under Regulation 920/2005. A derogation was included in the Regulation on the use of the language that was to be reviewed every 5 years and the first period was to last until 31 December 2011. As a result of the first review, the derogation was extended until 31 December 2016 under Regulation 1257/2010. Under the terms of the derogation which has been in place since 2007, it was only necessary to translate EU laws which were made under the co-decision protocol to Irish.
In December 2015, the European Council accepted a regulation focused on putting an end to derogation on an incremental basis by the end of the year 2021. Following the successful ending of the derogation on 31 December 2021, EU Institutions are now providing services through the Irish language at the same level as other official languages of the EU.