[lg policy] Northern Ireland Assembly divided by Irish language

Sat Jan 14 17:04:02 UTC 2017

Northern Ireland Assembly divided by Irish language
By Ciaran Dunbar BBC News NI

   - 7 hours ago
   - From the section Northern Ireland
   <http://www.bbc.com/news/northern_ireland>

Share <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38601181#share-tools>
Image copyright Conradh na Gaeilge Image caption Irish is seen as important
to the wider nationalist community as a symbol of identity

There are few places in the world where the issue of manhole covers would
cause a political row.

However, when a unionist councillor in Ballymena complained that new covers
installed in the town included the word "uisce", no-one was particularly
surprised.

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.

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.

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.

It is, in turn, vigorously resisted by many as a symbol of resistance to
that identity.
'Curry my yoghurt'

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.

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.

He began a speech with: "Curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer".
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29895593>

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).

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".

The speaker said Mr Campbell's conduct fell "well short of standards
expected from MLAs".

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said the incident "bordered on racism".
Media captionGregory Campbell, when invited to speak, said "curry my
yoghurt can coca coalyer"

The clashes have continued. DUP Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen took
the decision in September 2016 to rename a fisheries protection vessel
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-37507482> from the Irish
name given to it by a previous Sinn Féin minister, Michelle Gildernew.

Thus 'Banríon Uladh' became 'Queen of Ulster', a direct translation.
Image caption Same ship but a new name - this time, in English as opposed
to Irish

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".

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".

DUP Communities Minister Paul Givan's decision to withdraw funding for an
Irish language bursary
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38422550> scheme two days
before Christmas, which was subsequently revoked
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38594609>, is seen by Irish
speakers as the latest battle in a cultural war.

Dr Niall Comer, president of Comhaltas Uladh, the Ulster Irish language
organisation, called the move a "blatant act of discrimination".

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.

The subject of Irish medium education (IME) is also hotly debated in the
chamber <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30973924>, where
arguments on whether or not to officially recognise an Irish medium school
will invariably split the parties along traditional lines.

IME is legislated for in the 1998 Education Order, however, limiting the
scope for disagreement.

In recent years, assembly debates have focused on demands for an Irish
Language Act - a legislative framework for the language.

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.

"More than ten years on, it is more than time to move this issue forward.

"The political parties and the Irish and British governments now have the
opportunity to resolve this outstanding issue.

"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."

Other Irish language groups have also lobbied for legislation which has the
political support of both the SDLP and Sinn Féin.

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.

But both main unionist parties oppose the proposed legislation.

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.
Image caption Graffiti in Belfast calling for an Irish language act, a
proposal that divides the assembly along traditional community lines

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.

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.

The SDLP currently has a private members bill on the issue before the
assembly, the second such attempt.

It is also likely to fail due to unionist opposition.

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.

Any act would guarantee Irish was given the same official status as English.

That would lead to measures like:

   - The option for Irish to be used in court
   - Irish being used in all assembly debates
   - The widespread use of irish by all state bodies including the police
   - The appointment of an Irish Language commissioner to ensure the
   language is facilitated

Gregory Campbell told his party conference in 2014 that the party would
never agree to an Irish language act.

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.

Privately, though, many fear that comprehensive language legislation is
highly unlikely to ever come about, given steadfast unionist opposition.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38601181

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