[lg policy] We must listen to civic unionism’s concerns about Irish language Act

Sat Mar 17 14:20:09 UTC 2018

 We must listen to civic unionism’s concerns about Irish language Act State
intervention may only deepen divide and it could prove counterproductive
about 9 hours ago
<https://www.irishtimes.com/profile/diarmaid-ferriter-7.2925393>
Diarmaid Ferriter
<https://www.irishtimes.com/profile/diarmaid-ferriter-7.2925393>

2
<https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/we-must-listen-to-civic-unionism-s-concerns-about-irish-language-act-1.3429690#comments>
[image: Irish-language protesters outside the Education Authority in
Belfast last year, protesting against the withdrawal of funding from
Irish-medium youth providers. File photograph: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker]

Irish-language protesters outside the Education Authority in Belfast last
year, protesting against the withdrawal of funding from Irish-medium youth
providers. File photograph: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
<https://www.irishtimes.com/cmlink/the-irish-times-debate-1.1319211>

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Recently, more than 100 unionists in Northern Ireland put their names to a
letter urging nationalists to discuss building a “society for the
betterment of everyone”.

The move was in response to a letter from “civic nationalism” that had
urged Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to protect the rights of Irish citizens in the
North. In their letter, the unionists call for “a transparent and inclusive
debate concerning rights, truth, equality and civil liberties”.

That is a hell of a big ask in the North, but the request needs to be given
proper consideration. The signatories “find it frustrating and puzzling
that civic unionism, pluralists and other forms of civic leadership have
been rendered invisible in many debates focused on rights and
responsibilities”.

Nationalists also have reason to express concern about their status given
current uncertainty about Brexit and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged in
December that one of the failures of the southern State historically was
that it left Northern nationalists “behind”.

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   <https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/diarmaid-ferriter-both-sides-to-the-brexit-debate-can-lay-claim-to-churchill-1.3403236>

Frustrations

Almost 20 years after the Belfast Agreement, the letters underline the
frustrations at the enduring, if not increasing polarisation in the North.
Whatever hopes existed that cross-community integration might facilitate a
broad healing have faded. One of the signatories of the recent letter from
civic unionism was solicitor Trevor Ringland, a former Ireland rugby player
and member of the Ulster Unionist Party who has elaborated on his thoughts
in the *Sunday Business Post*. He sees himself as a unionist who is
“comfortably Irish” and emphasised what those involved in rugby had
achieved to bring people together who were constitutionally apart. He also
observed that the Irish language was flourishing in the North but there was
a unionist fear that an Irish language Act would be used to “deepen
divisions rather than heal them” and that “if given the opportunity, civic
society here could find an acceptable solution”.
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This is an important point, too often overlooked. There is much
preoccupation with “legacy issues” from the Troubles, but there are
longer-term “legacy issues” arising out of the events of 100 years ago that
have been addressed fairly, imaginatively and honestly in recent years by
both civic unionism and civic nationalism beyond the fray of polarising
politics.
Delicate issue

The way these commemorations have been approached in such a divisive
society could well provide a template for dealing with some of the current
contentious issues, including the Irish language, as Ringland suggests.
With all the focus on the 1916 commemoration in the Republic there was not
enough appreciation here of how the delicate issue of centenary
commemorations in the North from 2012-16 was managed. One of the crucial
points about their success was that they were not led or driven by
politicians. Groups such as the Community Relations Council (CRC) and the
Heritage Lottery Fund combined to encourage thoughtful debate and a
pluralist response to the centenaries with an emphasis on events that could
deepen understanding of the period with a strong emphasis on “respectful
listening”, multiple narratives and the insistence that both communities
“must travel”.

 If the language issue is in a very healthy condition, is the best thing
for it legislation that would inevitably be divisive?

One of the reasonings was that such an approach could “underpin future
community relations work”. As the CRC put it: “Remembering in public space
could have at its heart a commitment to reflect the variety and complexity
of cultural life… to create gateways for engagement and to resolve
political issues in a way that is consistent with the overarching values of
equality, human rights and reconciliation.”
Heavy intervention

Could the language question be approached in the same way? If it is in a
very healthy condition, is the best thing for it legislation that would
inevitably be divisive? The experience of the South is a reminder that
heavy State intervention is not a recipe for success. By the 1950s, many
aspects of State promotion of the Irish language had failed. As historian
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh has noted: “The ritual symbolic use of Irish by
politicians was frequently so limited that it seemed no more than tokenism
and the degree of real penetration of Irish in the apparatus of the State
continued to disappoint. Crucially, the evidence was unmistakable that
insisting on competence in Irish for entry to the public service did not
guarantee increased use of Irish in the actual services being supplied to
the public.”

Nor did State policy on preserving vibrant Gaeltacht areas work and,
ultimately, it was “the voluntary efforts of parents and language activists
rather than State policy or planning or policy” that was the driver of the
more recent Irish-medium school movement.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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