<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-story-body__h1">Northern Ireland Assembly divided by Irish language</h1>
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<span class="gmail-byline__name">By Ciaran Dunbar</span>
<span class="gmail-byline__title">BBC News NI</span>
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<ul class="gmail-mini-info-list"><li class="gmail-mini-info-list__item"> <div class="gmail-date gmail-date--v2 gmail-relative-time">7 hours ago</div>
</li><li class="gmail-mini-info-list__item"><span class="gmail-mini-info-list__section-desc gmail-off-screen">From the section </span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/northern_ireland" class="gmail-mini-info-list__section">Northern Ireland</a></li></ul>
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<span class="gmail-story-image-copyright">Conradh na Gaeilge </span>
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Irish is seen as important to the wider nationalist community as a symbol of identity
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</figure><p class="gmail-story-body__introduction">There are few places in the world where the issue of manhole covers would cause a political row. </p><p>However,
when a unionist councillor in Ballymena complained that new covers
installed in the town included the word "uisce", no-one was particularly
surprised. </p><p>This is because "uisce" is the Irish word for water -
two of the new covers installed as part of an improvement scheme were
found to be bilingual.</p><p>The difficulty was solved by the Irish word
being scraped off, but it was an illustration of how polarised
attitudes to the Irish language are in Northern Ireland.</p><p>Despite
only a minority of the population speaking Irish as a vernacular, the
language is seen as important to the wider nationalist community, and a
small number of unionists, as a symbol of identity.</p><p>It is, in turn, vigorously resisted by many as a symbol of resistance to that identity.</p><h2 class="gmail-story-body__crosshead">'Curry my yoghurt'</h2><p>The
result is almost total polarisation of the issue among politicians,
nowhere more so than in the Northern Ireland Assembly, where clashes on
the language issue have made headlines. </p><p>In 2014, the DUP's
Gregory Campbell was barred from addressing the assembly for a day for
parodying the language and after failing to apologise.</p><p>He began a speech with: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29895593" class="gmail-story-body__link">"Curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer".</a></p><p>The
Irish sentence "go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle" translates as
"thank you, speaker" and is used by Sinn Féin, and to a lesser extent,
the SDLP, members to address the Stormont Speaker as "ceann comhairle" -
in a similar fashion to the way the speaker is addressed in the Dáil
(Irish parliament). </p><p>Mr Campbell said: "My tolerance gets
stretched beyond any credibility when I hear Irish ad nauseam on
hundreds of occasions for no purpose other than a political one". </p><p>The speaker said Mr Campbell's conduct fell "well short of standards expected from MLAs".</p><p>Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said the incident "bordered on racism". </p><figure class="gmail-media-with-caption">
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<figcaption class="gmail-media-with-caption__caption"><span class="gmail-off-screen">Media caption</span>Gregory Campbell, when invited to speak, said "curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer" </figcaption>
</figure><p>The clashes have continued. DUP Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen took the decision in September 2016 to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-37507482" class="gmail-story-body__link">rename a fisheries protection vessel</a> from the Irish name given to it by a previous Sinn Féin minister, Michelle Gildernew.</p><p>Thus 'Banríon Uladh' became 'Queen of Ulster', a direct translation. </p><figure class="gmail-media-landscape gmail-has-caption gmail-full-width">
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Same ship but a new name - this time, in English as opposed to Irish
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</figure><p>Ms McIlveen said the move was part of a change to a
"single language policy" and an attempt to give her department "a fresh
identity". </p><p>Irish language group Pobal said it "deplored" the
change, describing it as "a sad and petty action, which brings no
benefit or value to a society struggling to move away from inequality
and discrimination".</p><p>DUP Communities Minister Paul Givan's decision to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38422550" class="gmail-story-body__link">withdraw funding for an Irish language bursary</a> scheme two days before Christmas, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38594609" class="gmail-story-body__link">which was subsequently revoked</a>, is seen by Irish speakers as the latest battle in a cultural war. </p><p>Dr
Niall Comer, president of Comhaltas Uladh, the Ulster Irish language
organisation, called the move a "blatant act of discrimination". </p><p>Mr
Givan said his original decision was not political, but Martin
McGuinness this week cited the £50,000 cut as one of the reasons for his
resignation as deputy first minister.</p><p>The subject of Irish medium education (IME) is also <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30973924" class="gmail-story-body__link">hotly debated in the chamber</a>,
where arguments on whether or not to officially recognise an Irish
medium school will invariably split the parties along traditional lines.
</p><p>IME is legislated for in the 1998 Education Order, however, limiting the scope for disagreement.</p><p>In recent years, assembly debates have focused on demands for an Irish Language Act - a legislative framework for the language.</p><p>The
Irish language umbrella group, Pobal, has been focusing on the question
of an Irish Language Act since 2003 and its chief executive, Janet
Muller, said: "The Irish Language Act was promised in the St Andrews'
Agreement in 2006.</p><p>"More than ten years on, it is more than time to move this issue forward. </p><p>"The political parties and the Irish and British governments now have the opportunity to resolve this outstanding issue. </p><p>"We
welcome Sinn Féin's emphasis on the act, and call on them to state
clearly that there will be no return to Stormont without a detailed
guarantee and timescale on Irish language legislation."</p><p>Other Irish language groups have also lobbied for legislation which has the political support of both the SDLP and Sinn Féin. </p><p>The
Alliance Party supports the creation of a comprehensive languages act
covering "indigenous languages and other spoken languages used within
Northern Ireland, as well as various sign languages. </p><p>But both main unionist parties oppose the proposed legislation.</p><p>Irish
language activists point out that the Gaelic Language Act protects
Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, despite the fact that, according census
figures, there are fewer speakers of Gaelic in Scotland than Irish in
Northern Ireland. </p><figure class="gmail-media-landscape gmail-has-caption gmail-full-width">
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Graffiti in Belfast calling for an Irish language
act, a proposal that divides the assembly along traditional community
lines
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</figure><p>However, their opponents make the point that the
vast majority of those speakers in Scotland are native speakers, brought
up speaking the language, whereas the majority of Irish language
speakers in Northern Ireland are not.</p><p>Sinn Féin attempted to
introduce the Irish language bill in the assembly in 2015. The DUP
criticised the effort as "futile" and it did not gain the necessary
support to become law.</p><p>The SDLP currently has a private members bill on the issue before the assembly, the second such attempt.</p><p>It is also likely to fail due to unionist opposition.</p><p>Political
debate rarely involves the content of a possible Irish language act,
focusing more on the general principle of whether there should be
legislation or not.</p><p>Any act would guarantee Irish was given the same official status as English.</p><p>That would lead to measures like:</p><ul class="gmail-story-body__unordered-list"><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item">The option for Irish to be used in court</li><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item">Irish being used in all assembly debates</li><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item">The widespread use of irish by all state bodies including the police</li><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item">The appointment of an Irish Language commissioner to ensure the language is facilitated</li></ul><p>Gregory Campbell told his party conference in 2014 that the party would never agree to an Irish language act.</p><p>However,
given the current political flux at Stormont, many Irish language
speakers now see a chance to put demands for an act at the centre of
negotiations again.</p><p>Privately, though, many fear that
comprehensive language legislation is highly unlikely to ever come
about, given steadfast unionist opposition.</p><p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38601181">http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38601181</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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