Sections 12, 13, 14 and 16 of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 were commenced through a statutory instrument yesterday.

Sections 12 and 14 are technical amendments, while section 13 establishes a new Placenames Committee to advise the Gaeltacht minister on Irish placenames, as defined in section 31 of the Official Languages Act 2003.

Meanwhile, section 16 amends the Juries Act 1976 to provide for the issuing of jury summons notices bilingually.

According to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, this practice “has already begun as a result of close co-operation between the Department and the Courts Service over the last year or so”.

“As part of this collaboration, the Courts Service ensured that its new jury portal had Irish language functionality, and that its jury package was translated,” it added.

Thomas Byrne, minister of state for the Gaeltacht, said: “I congratulate the Courts Service for the great work they have done in preparing to implement section 16 of the 2021 Act.”