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<h1>Political deadlock in Northern Ireland</h1>
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<time title="about 16 hours ago">about 16 hours ago</time>
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<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Sir,
– What puzzles me is why the Taoiseach cancelled a planned visit with
the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, scheduled for Monday in
Dublin, rather than invite him to attend informally in Belfast, where
his silent presence might have signalled the amicable relations between
ourselves and our British neighbours; and, who knows, he might even have
had a chance to whisper into the paranoid ears of backbenchers that not
speaking English exclusively had no negative effect on his Welsh
countrymen’s British identity. </p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Mr Jones is on record as wanting a
soft border between Wales and the Republic, post-Brexit. It appears, as I
suspected when first hearing of the cancellation, to have been another
missed opportunity to apply a nanogram of political imagination to this
constipated “debate”. </p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">One thing is for sure, the whole
fiasco indicates that when it comes to begrudgery, the DUP are surely
“more Irish than the Irish themselves”. – Yours, etc, </p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">D FLINTER,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Headford,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Co Galway.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Sir, – With regard to Northern
Ireland, Brexit is the elephant in the room, and everyone up there knows
that they are up the creek if that happens, whether it is said in
English or Irish. </p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Sinn Féin would be well advised to forget about the Irish language question and get into government immediately. – Yours, etc,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">COLM O’CONNOR,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Dublin 14.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Sir, – Equality has been achieved
in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin collapsed the executive and the DUP
collapsed the talks to restore it. If that isn’t parity, I don’t know
what is. – Yours, etc,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">BRIAN AHERN,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Clonsilla,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Dublin 15. </p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Sir, – The spectacular collapse of
the Stormont talks by the DUP was clearly orchestrated by its eight MPs
in Westminster. They will welcome direct rule which would give them
unprecedented influence on how it would operate. The next step for them
would be to try to undermine the power-sharing Belfast Agreement. From a
tactical viewpoint, Sinn Féin should consider a compromise on the Irish
language and expose the DUP strategic plan. The Irish Government should
pay attention to long-term implications, in addition to the present
situation. – Yours, etc,</p>
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<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">PATRICK WARD ,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Kilkenny.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">A chara, – What is important is
that we all clearly understand the importance of an Irish Language Act
in the context of Anglo-Irish and indeed international relations as a
whole.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">All parties who signed the Belfast
Agreement of 1998, including the British government, agreed among other
things that: “in the context of active consideration currently being
given to the UK signing the Council of Europe Charter for Regional or
Minority Languages, the British Government will in particular in
relation to the Irish language, where appropriate and where people so
desire it: take resolute action to promote the language; facilitate and
encourage the use of the language in speech and writing in public and
private life where there is appropriate demand; and seek to remove,
where possible, restrictions which would discourage or work against the
maintenance or development of the language”.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">The United Kingdom signed the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on March 2000 and
ratified it in 2001. The charter is an international convention which
aims at protecting and promoting Europe’s regional or minority languages
as a threatened aspect of Europe’s cultural heritage.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">In its instrument of ratification,
the UK extended Part III cover (measures to promote the use of regional
or minority languages in public life) to three languages – Welsh in
Wales, Scottish Gaelic in Scotland and Irish in Northern Ireland. It
extended Part II (Objectives and Principles) cover to Scots in Scotland
and to Ulster-Scots in Northern Ireland. (Part II cover was later
extended to Cornish in Cornwall and Manx Gaelic in the Isle of Man).</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">The Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe, as far back as 2010, on examining the Committee of
Experts report recommended that the UK “adopt and implement a
comprehensive Irish language policy, preferably through the adoption of
legislation”.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">In its fourth examination cycle its
Committee of Experts (Comex) in 2014 observed that: “There is still no
legislative basis for the use of Irish due to the lack of political
support. Unjustified restrictions on the use of Irish in some fields
covered by the Charter, including in courts, still persist.”</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">In the St Andrew’s Agreement of
2006 the UK government freely agreed that: “The Government will
introduce an Irish Language Act reflecting on the experience of Wales
and Ireland and work with the incoming Executive to enhance and protect
the development of the Irish language”.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">In the absence of a Northern
Ireland Executive, the Westminster parliament could and should enact an
Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland as it did in the case of Welsh
in Wales.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">It is imperative that the Irish
Government and the international community as a whole state bluntly that
the UK must honour its freely agreed international obligations. </p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">If Britain is allowed to make
international agreements when it is expedient, and then disregard them
when it is opportune to do so, it will render all future negotiations
meaningless and the source of cynical derision. – Is mise,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">DÓNALL Ó RIAGÁIN,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">An Nás,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Co Chill Dara.</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Sir, – If Arlene Foster is honestly
worried about an Irish language Act, I would advise her to look south
of the Border for some comfort. Irish is the first official language of
the Republic and is seldom used. – Yours,etc,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">PAUL McCARRICK,</p>
<p class="gmail-LETTER gmail-selectionShareable">Galway.</p></div></section>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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