The Irish language television network, Telefis na Gaeilge, has launched “The Office” Irish-style. The comedy will be set in a fictional civil service department.

“An Crisis” is set in the Irish language department threatened with cutbacks that lead the staff to desperately try to justify their continued employment.

Comedian Risteard Cooper will play the role of the boss, Setanta de Paor, who is a champion of the Irish language and struggles with his apathetic workforce. Setanta faces further problems when a former school foe of his is appointed as a new minister.

A TG4 spokesperson said that the fictional government office is like a ”lunatic asylum, a bunch of morons or just plain bonkers, depending on the day of the week".

"Setanta is the guardian of the Irish language but this civil servant is about to become lost in translation with a savagely tightened public purse and his only hope is a parrot called Mairtin O Cadhain," they added.

The six-part series will be aired for the first time in Ireland next week.

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