The Irish language will become a full, official language of the European Union from midnight.
On January 1st, it achieves full status with all documents published by the EU being translated as Gaeilge.
This marks the end of a derogation period, which has been in place since 2007.
This limited the amount of material published through Irish by the EU institutions.
Since 2015 the scope of this derogation has been gradually reducing, as the capacity for the translation of Irish within the EU has increased.
Minister for European Affairs Thomas Byrne says it is a fitting time for this to happen.
"I am immensely proud that this derogation is ending and Irish is now a full, official EU language.
"This reflects the tireless work that has gone into building up the capability of the EU institutions to operate through Irish.
"And it is fitting that it is happening this year, a year when we will also mark the historic 50 year anniversary since Ireland signed the Treaty of Accession to the European Communities".
The volume of Irish language translations has risen almost six-fold since 2016 - from 8,000 to almost 46,000 by October 2021.
While around 200 Irish language staff are now working within the EU.
Minister Byrne says: "This remarkable increase would not have been possible but for recruitment of impressive numbers of Irish-speaking staff to the EU institutions, due in no small part to the efforts of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
"The ending of derogation will make the services of the EU more accessible for Irish speakers at home and abroad.
"As a proud Gaeilgeoir myself, I regularly contribute to council meetings as Gaeilge and I would encourage everyone to make use of their cúpla focal, in every aspect of their life.
"I would also invite those with Irish language proficiency to consider a career within the EU institutions."
The EU has 24 official languages.
Irish has been a treaty language since 1973, when Ireland became a member state, meaning only EU treaties were translated into Irish.
