Appropriation Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-17
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Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF), Dublin South-Central

I move amendment No. 3:
In page 4, line 26, after “citied” to insert “as Acht Leithghabhála 2025 or, in the English language,”.
Only this week, we had President Catherine Connolly launch a multilingual dictionary. It was a fantastic day. We now have a groundbreaking new dictionary that is accessible online. When the Minister was the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, he part-funded the research into this through Foras na Gaeilge. I do not think anybody is critical of that but when you look up the meaning of "leithreas" in the dictionary online, through foclóir.ie , it states:
1. Babhla mór a bhfuil suíochán air a bhfuil poll ann, a bhíonn nasctha le córas uisce. Úsáideann tú an leithreas nuair a bhíonn do mhún nó do chac le déanamh agat.
2. Seomra ar leith i dteach nó i bhfoirgneamh, nó both beag ar leith i suíomh oscailte, ar féidir le daoine dul chuig an leithreas ann
Sin na mínithe ar leithreas. Má lorgaíonn tú an focal "leithreasa", ní ann dó, ach tá leithreasú, leithghabháil agus leithreas - "funds set aside" nó "leithreasaí buiséid". The point I made before was that, in some ways, people say it is a piss-take but it is not. It is not in common parlance. Part of producing a dictionary is trying to ensure the words being used are being used correctly. That is why I have said, not just in this amendment but in the past, that it should be the "Acht Leithghabhála 2025". In the past, when I raised this, it has been said that this is the tradition and we will keep using the words, but words go out of fashion. We have done it with other words that were common at one stage, such as the Aliens Act. We do not call people aliens anymore. If it has been pointed out that this is not a word in common parlance or is no longer used, we should change it. To do so would not take away from the Bill. We need to change the Title to something that is more accessible and also does not give a double meaning.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-17