N. Ireland: Irish 'should threaten no-one'

[Harold Schiffman]

Irish 'should threaten no-one'

Culture Minister Edwin Poots has said he believes the Irish language
should threaten no-one.  He was speaking at his first Irish language
event, a conference organised by Irish speakers group Pobal. The DUP
MLA said he is keen to promote a shared heritage, but he has no plans
to introduce Irish language legislation. Mr Poots has previously said
it would be too expensive to implement an Irish language act. The
Irish Language Act was promised to Sinn Fein by the then Prime
Minister Tony Blair at the St Andrew's talks in 2006. However, the act
is now the responsibility of the Executive, and requires
cross-community consensus.

The conference was organised by Pobal to discuss a strategy for
promoting the language.  Pobal representative Janet Muller said it was
important to develop a comprehensive Irish language policy. Welsh and
Scottish language representatives are also attending the conference,
as well as a member of a European body for regional and minority
languages.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7282292.stm

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