A year after the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon O'Cuiv introduced his Language Bill that obliged government departments to translate certain documents into Irish, Finance Minister Brian Cowen told government departments that they no longer have to award civil servants with a proficiency in Irish bonus marks of 6% in internal promotion competitions.

Following queries from several departments who became concerned that Irishspeaking civil servants were leapfrogging over more suitable candidates for top government jobs even when Irish was not necessary for the job, the Department of Finance agreed that each department was free to "exercise its discretion" on awarding bonus marks to Irish speakers and that "it was no longer a compulsory requirement".

The move comes at a time when all government departments are frantically searching for staff who have fluent Irish, due to a requirement in O'Cuiv's Act that members of the public have the right to conduct any business . . . such as interviews at the dole office . . . through Irish.

Introduced in the mid1970s in an effort to boost the use of Irish in the corridors of power, civil servants who passed a written and oral proficiency test in Irish were given a 10% bonus when taking part in a competition for promotion. In 1990, this bonus was reduced to 6%.

This incentive replaced the more punitive measure in which any civil servant who failed a standard Irish language test after two years in the job would be sacked.

The Public Service Executive Union, which represents middle managers in the public service, welcomed the Department of Finance's move.

However, a spokesman pointed out that the 6% is still awarded for competitions between civil servants wanting to switch departments.

Given the intense and close competition that exists for top government posts, a 6% advantage before you start is considerable, he said.

Irish is still compulsory in the Leaving Certificate. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has proposed that this be ended.

Also, bonus marks are awarded to students who do their leaving through Irish and can nudge a student over the fail/pass line or onto a higher grade.