11. —(1) For the purpose of promoting the use of the Irish language for official purposes in the State, the Minister may, by notice in writing to the head of a public body, require the public body to prepare and present to him or her for confirmation within such time (not being more than 6 months from the date of issue of the notice) as is specified in the notice a draft scheme specifying—

(a) the services which the public body proposes to provide—

(i) exclusively through the medium of the Irish language,

(ii) exclusively through the medium of the English language, and

(iii) through the medium of both the Irish and English languages,

and

(b) the measures the body proposes to adopt to ensure that any services that are not provided by the body through the medium of the Irish language will be so provided.

(2) (a) A draft scheme referred to in subsection (1) shall specify the means of communication that are to be provided exclusively in the Irish language, exclusively in the English language and in both the Irish and English languages.

(b) In this section “means of communication” means the means of communication between the body concerned and the public generally or groups or individual members of the public in relation to the services concerned, the provision of the services and information relating to the services or such provision.

(3) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, in relation to those of its services delivered exclusively through the medium of the English language, direct a public body to draw up a plan for the delivery of those services in addition through the medium of the Irish language together with an estimate of the period of time required to implement the plan.

(4) A notice under subsection (1) shall be accompanied by a copy of the current guidelines issued by the Minister under section 12 .

(5) Different notices may be given to a head of a public body under this section in respect of different services.