Irish Language Act – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Now we see who’s ‘red (white and blue) lines’ are holding up the show!

Concubhar on February 13, 2018, 5:24 pm

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It’s becoming increasingly clear that unionist political parties and politicians have set their opposition to an Irish Language Act and, by extension, any form of an Irish identity within ‘British’ NI as a priority ‘red line’ ahead of returning to powersharing or, even, at the most fundamental level aspiring to an equal Union between NI and the rest of the UK. The rhetoric today from Arlene Foster in which she set out what she would not countenance in response to …

Sins of omission

Concubhar on January 31, 2018, 1:35 pm

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More than a year since the collapse of the Assembly over, among other things, the refusal of the DUP to respect previous agreements which promised an Irish Language Act, we’re no further on this issue and, it could be argued, any of the other outstanding issues. One thing I don’t understand is why the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, neither this one or the previous incumbent, have met the Irish language groups campaigning for the legislation or, rather, …

Grassroots Campaign for Irish Language Legislation transformed political discourse, but where are we now and how can we help deliver meaningful change?

Soapbox on January 22, 2018, 7:22 pm

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Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin writes for Slugger about the upcoming talks and the Irish Language Act On Wednesday our local political parties, this time the 5 ‘main parties’ as they are described in the media, will return to the table to try and flesh out a deal which would allow for the Executive to be formed and the MLA’s to take their seats in the Assembly once more. The issues in the ‘to be resolved’ box is much the same …

A Year Without Government Series: Part I of III

Soapbox on January 22, 2018, 1:38 pm

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This week will mark one year since the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly and one year without government in Northern Ireland. Over the next few articles from myself on this site I hope to take a satirical and hopefully comical look back on the events of this year and how we managed to find ourselves in the situation. The following was written entirely tongue in cheek and none of it should be taken very seriously. How did we get …

Unionists should welcome Irish Language Act with open arms

Concubhar on September 10, 2017, 7:57 pm

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As I read the latest contributions regarding the Irish language from UUP leader Robin Swann and its echo in the Newsletter’s Morning View, it seems to me that they have tied themselves in a knot about Acht na Gaeilge. A Gordian knot is a phrase that occurs to me. It seems impossible to loosen but is easily unravelled with the judicious use of logic and good sense. Unionists like Robin Swann, Jim Allister and the writer of the Belfast …

How new is the Foster offer?

David McCann on September 1, 2017, 11:46 am

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There has been some debate doing the rounds about how new the proposal from the DUP Leader was last night about a parallel process. Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill argued this morning that such an offer is not new from the DUP and had been proposed before. On the core of the proposal, she is actually right as the lead negotiator for the party Edwin Poots proposed in June the following Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday evening, Edwin Poots, the …

Foster makes a pitch to Sinn Fein to get Executive reformed

David McCann on August 31, 2017, 8:29 pm

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The DUP Leader, Arlene Foster has made a pitch to Sinn Fein in a bid to restore devolution with a proposal to deal with the Irish Language Act. Speaking tonight she said; How then do we resolve these issues and establish the Executive and have the Northern Ireland Assembly sitting to do the business the people elected us to do? Well we can enter into another round of talks. Parties can state and restate their positions. All the while waiting …

Adams says no Assembly without an Irish Language Act

David McCann on August 30, 2017, 2:13 pm

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The Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams was speaking at an event organised by Conradh na Gaeilge. Also at the event supporting an act were the SDLP, Alliance, PBP and Green parties (combined they make up 50/90 MLAs). In the lead up to remarks expected by the DUP Leader, Arlene Foster tomorrow night about the future of devolution, Adams said; “The British Government and Unionist parties have failed to fulfil their commitment to an Acht Gaeilge and to the full implementation of …

Ulster Scots, Ulster Irish, Irish Scots, Ulster Gaelic, Gaeilge Uladh

Concubhar on July 20, 2017, 8:36 am

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As Summer rolls on and disputes rumble regarding the possibility (or not) of the enactment of an Irish Language Act – or a Languages Act – or a Culture(s) Act, we seem to be stuck in a labyrinth of ever decreasing circles or some Byzantine entrapment from which there is no escape. As Christy Moore once sang: For all of our languages we can’t communicate. As an Irish speaker I’m conflicted about Ulster Scots. It’s clearly a dialect of English …

Irish Language Act: “Dr Paisley had been intensely displeased by the Blair administration’s trickery.”

Mick Fealty on June 28, 2017, 7:49 am

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To those still buying into the Major/Powell idea that the British government is always a neutral player in negotiations, try this account from Peter Robinson on how Blair set Sinn Fein up with a promise for an Irish Language Act he had no intention of asking the DUP to deliver: “It was Ian’s assessment – and in my view an accurate one – that if the government was prepared to con Sinn Féin in the way it did, they would …

From Good Friday to Lá Dearg – the journey towards rights for Irish speakers

Soapbox on May 15, 2017, 9:52 pm

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Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin is an Irish Language Activist and is writing this in a personal capacity On the 20th of May thousands will make their way to Belfast to support the increasing calls for legislative protection for the Irish language, in the form of an Irish language act. Those attending, like the Irish language community itself, come from different backgrounds and have different views on many important issues, but on the issue of the role of the state regarding …

I firmly believe that an Irish language act can be in the vanguard of progress.

Soapbox on April 19, 2017, 2:34 pm

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Linda Ervine is an Irish Language Development Officer at the East Belfast Mission Arlene Foster’s decision to engage with Irish language groups could have positive outcomes for both the DUP and the Irish language sector. As the largest elected party within Northern Ireland the DUP is a major policy maker. In my opinion, it can only be beneficial for the party to acquire a greater knowledge of a sector on which its decisions have so immediate an impact. I am …

McCausland says a Culture Act is worth considering

David McCann on April 16, 2017, 4:13 pm

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Former DUP MLA and Culture Minister, Nelson McCausland has made some interesting comments to the News Letter in response to Arlene Foster’s engagement with the Irish Language Community. Former Culture Minister Nelson McCausland yesterday told the News Letter that an inclusive cultural Act “could well be the way forward”. He added: “It would recognise that there is more than one indigenous minority language in Northern Ireland and more than one cultural tradition.” Mr McCausland believes a culture Act could help …

The Irish Language Act: Real costs revealed by Conradh na Gaeilge

Concubhar on March 15, 2017, 12:04 pm

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It’s finally here, the bill for the proposed Irish Language Act. This is the estimated cost from Conradh na Gaeilge, the umbrella group for Irish language speakers and organisations advocating for legislation to protect the Irish language from capricious political attacks and to promote it resolutely as per the Good Friday Agreement and The St Andrews accord. The good news is that this estimate, put together by the organisation advocating for the legislation is a fraction of the price tags …

Sinn Féin’s red lines? : “So you had the Irish language act, there was a thing called the bill of rights and there was another issues.”

Pete Baker on February 26, 2017, 8:26 pm

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Launching the Sinn Féin manifesto for the Northern Ireland Assembly election a couple of weeks ago, the party’s appointed ‘leader in the North’, Michelle O’Neill, declared that “You’d be very aware that I won’t be drawing any red line issues…” Since then she has allowed the impression to be created that the one ‘red line’ the party does have is the nomination of the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, as First, or deputy First, Minister before Judge Coughlin’s inquiry into the RHI scheme …

Welsh language to be allowed in the Commons

Brian Walker on February 23, 2017, 10:04 am

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The Times (£) has more than one echo today.. After a six month campaign.. The government confirmed yesterday that it would bring forward a motion to allow MPs to speak the language when the Welsh grand committee meets in Westminster, despite rejecting the change last year on cost grounds. The committee, made up of all 40 MPs representing Wales, meets every two months. Chris Bryant, who campaigned for the change when he was shadow leader of the Commons, said he …

Arlene Foster seems to know what is already in an Irish Language Act

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on February 14, 2017, 3:10 pm

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Arlene Foster spoke today at the 5 Leaders, 5 Days event, and covered a bit of controversial ground on the Irish Language. John Manley of the Irish News captured this interesting little back-pedal from the DUP leader, failing to remember that she accepted some of the blame for the perception that she was anti nationalist or anti republican (from her Irish News article published only four days previous). Mrs. Foster turned the question from John around to reference the Irish …

The Irish Language Act can better NI society, cynicism will destroy it

Concubhar on February 10, 2017, 8:59 am

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Two years ago the Cultúrlann hosted a group of Gaidhlig psalm singers from Lewis. The renditions by the singers from the Bach Presbyterian Church of age old hymns in Gaidhlig was a reminder of our common Gaelic culture, a shared heritage which could not be sundered by petty religious spite. Spite seems to be order of the day here, however, as we are held hostage once again to the whims of a backward looking DUP in an electoral process in which …

Straight comparisons with Wales are barmy. An NI Language Act under Assembly control would be nothing like

Brian Walker on February 7, 2017, 6:39 pm

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Perhaps Arlene Foster deserves a crumb of sympathy when Nelson McCausland makes claims like this about the cost of Sinn Fein’s version of an Irish Language Act. So, we are talking about an annual cost that can be estimated at around £100m a year. That is £2bn over the next 20 years. Shades of RHI Aaaghh!! But it’s nonsense to think that any such Language Act here would be as extensive or as expensive as the Welsh provision. The comparison …