What is Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge?
The Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge award system acknowledges business organisations that evaluate, develop and capitalize on the use of the Irish language as an additional business and marketing tool. The Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge award signifies awareness of and commitment to bilingualism in business and culture through language, enhancing indigenous characteristics or ‘Irishness’. It also displays market leadership in innovative customer service provision. Any business organisation which meets the award criteria as defined in the Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge Standard will be awarded the certification mark.
Q-Mharc & ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System
Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge was awarded ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management System (QMS) in December 2017.
The established QMS allows Q Marc Gnó le Gaeilge to:
- Meet participants’ quality requirements
- Comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements
- Increases the Consistency of Operations within Q-Mharc
- Monitor the operation of the Q-Mharc system continuously
- Enhance Participants satisfaction
- Achieve continual improvement of the performance of Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge
Who may apply for the Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge?
- This all-island certification mark applies to all Small and Medium enterprises (SME’s - less than 50 employees) businesses throughout the island of Ireland and the United Kingdom, who notify in writing or electronically the Q-Mharc Office that they wish to be inspected under the scheme.
- The Q-Mharc Gnó le Gaeilge is applicable to all SME’s, whether prior use of Irish has or has not been formally incorporated into business activities in the past.
- The process shall focus on areas of business where there is a business/commercial benefit toward the use of Irish.
- Emphasis shall be placed primarily on bilingual usage, rather than the monolingual use of Irish.