Irish Language Act – Slugger O'Toole

Irish language legislation becomes law…

Brian O'Neill on December 7, 2022, 11:12 am

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The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill has received royal assent. From the Irish News: The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons back in May, completed its Westminster journey on Monday, receiving royal assent and officially repealing legislation from 1737 that among other outworkings banned the use of Irish in courts. The new legislation grants Irish official status in the north and will lead to the appointment of Irish and Ulster Scots/Ulster …

Act Now? Celtic languages in Ireland and the UK…

Soapbox on October 12, 2022, 7:57 am

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Love to Learn | Instagram: @timmossholder

Now mostly retired, Terry McClatchey has worked in health and social care services across various locations in Ireland and Britain. Many words have been traded on the topic of an Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland but they mostly generate more heat than light. I want to propose that the debate could be greatly helped by moving away from the binary rhetoric of “Act Now” versus “Never, never, never…” and working towards reaching an agreement on a fair and sustainable …

The Irish Language Act: Purdah, Promises, and Polling Booths…

Blaine McCartney on April 29, 2022, 7:38 am

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Letters

I recently made reference to NI Secretary of State Brandon Lewis’ claim, regarding the implementation of cultural [and language] legislation, that it would not be “right or proper to introduce legislation during the election period” – the implication perhaps being that the election period is not the right time for anything politically contentious. Leaving aside the matter of whether or not the cultural and language legislation in question is as contentious as is often claimed, such tacit invocations of ‘purdah’ …

Time for action on rights for Irish speakers is now

Soapbox on November 5, 2021, 3:20 pm

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By Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin History teaches us many things, or so we are told. One of the most important lessons that we all have long experience of in Ireland and that the whole of Europe is now painfully discovering is that the British Government can never be trusted to implement international agreements, even the ones they helped negotiate. The latest developments concerning the Irish Language Act serve as a timely reminder of this fact; the British Government committed to …

There really is nothing to fear in an Irish language act…

Soapbox on November 2, 2021, 10:39 am

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drop, splash, impact

Réamonn Ó Ciaráin is Director of Education with Gael Linn. Nobody will be disadvantaged for not being able to speak Irish. No school children will be forced to learn Irish against their will and no street name signs will be erected in Irish where they are not wanted. It will not cost too much; somewhere in the region of £4m per annum initially, it is estimated. Neither will there be employment quotas on language grounds. The proposed legislation will however, …

What’s in a name? – Some thoughts on the Irish Language Act…

Niall NYC on June 27, 2021, 7:59 am

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There is a debate raging over here, across these United States of America, as we grapple with the uncomfortable history of nation-building, the Founding Fathers, historical (re)interpretation, and dealing with the convoluted past. Sound familiar? In recent times, statues and memorials to Confederate-era figureheads across the (mostly southern) States have been taken down, and place names have been reassessed and renamed to address – or redress – America’s uncomfortable historical association with slaveholding, the civil war, and ongoing modern-day racial …

The Irish Language Act: Once Bitten, Twice Shy…

Blaine McCartney on June 21, 2021, 1:36 pm

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Readers may recall my recent article in which I speculated on what the initial media frenzy led us to believe was the upcoming ILA. This was written in the immediate aftermath of the initial announcement and was published on Slugger around a day or so afterwards – by which time greater detail had emerged, with certain speculations and predictions having been subsequently laid to rest. The current ILA saga is, of course, ongoing – and will in all probability be …

The Irish language Act: What to expect?

Blaine McCartney on June 19, 2021, 8:51 am

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Blaine McCartney is a Co. Down-based writer William F. Buckley once mused that “A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling ‘Stop!”. Being a conservative of sorts himself, however, he meant that as a compliment – going on to say that the conservative yells ‘Stop!’ at a time “when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” It does not seem to have occurred him that some conservatives yell …

The Orange Order’s Complex Relationship With The Irish Language…

Choyaa on January 12, 2020, 8:33 am

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In an ever-changing world there are now few constants and certainties, however, in Northern Ireland some remain including the fact that Unionism will find itself on the wrong side of a debate and be forced into a massive climb-down. The second certainty is that a spokesman (it’s always a man) for the Loyal Orange Institution will awkwardly enter the political arena with an ill-informed and often inaccurate intervention which will usually oppose whatever is being proposed. Unfortunately, as both a …

The ‘ghosting’ by unionist parties of the Irish language community

Concubhar on May 1, 2019, 11:23 am

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Conradh na Gaeilge, the indefatigible advocacy group making the case for Irish language rights in Northern Ireland, in March sent all the parties in the north a position paper and a very short questionnaire requesting them to commit support or express an opinion on three issues relevant to the Irish language in the imminent local elections. All the parties – apart from the three unionist parties, the DUP, the UUP and the TUV – responded positively to the request. Here …

Fake politics in Westminster re Irish Language Act proposal

Concubhar on July 10, 2018, 1:18 pm

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Watching the performance of Jim Shannon, the DUP MP for Strangford, in Westminster yesterday, a day of high drama otherwise in British politics, I was reminded that farce is a close relation to such dramatic intrigue. When Jim Shannon claims under parliamentary privilege that he’s for the idea of the Irish language but, it seems, apparently against any actual manifestation of An Ghaeilge in his sight lines or in those of his constituents, does he not realise, for instance, that …

“Sat nav and a mobile phone in the cab.” One of two answers to two problems?

Brian Walker on May 9, 2018, 3:00 pm

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David Trimble gets breezier by the day as he dismisses with a “ no problem” problems that may seem to him small beer compared to those that won him a share in the Nobel peace prize twenty years ago. “ Sat Nav and a mobile phone in the cab “ sorts the border problem out he claims. ( But what then, David? Do they never have to stop for spot checks? Or if they do so, where)? His remarks …

The authority to speak, linquistic intolerance, anonymity and monolingual regimes

Concubhar on April 26, 2018, 7:53 am

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There’s a line in a poem by Seán Ó Riordáin poem called Daoirse/Captivity or Unfreedom which talks about a woman and the way she might talk to you and the impact that would have on you. Dá labhródh bean leat íseal nach ísleofá do ghuth, dá mbeadh an bean réasúnta, nach réasúnófaí thú. If a woman spoke to you quietly, wouldn’t you lower your voice, if the woman was reasonable, wouldn’t that make you reasonable too. Bernadette O’Rourke, who gave …

Slugger TV debates are we missing the Executive and the agreement that never was

David McCann on March 2, 2018, 2:15 pm

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Most recent episode of Slugger TV, Adrianne Peltz and Brendan Hughes discuss some of the recent political events. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

If Sinn Féin weaponised the Irish language, the DUP had the power to change that…

Soapbox on February 27, 2018, 4:12 pm

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The DUP have accused Sinn Féin of weaponising the Irish language. They have used this ‘weaponising’ of the language as one excuse for their refusal to accept the terms of the proposed Irish Language Act and therefore also the reinstating of Northern Ireland’s devolved government. If Sinn Fein have weaponised the Irish language, the DUP had the power to change that. Instead, it remains a Trojan horse that will continue to destroy unionism. With the signing of the Good Friday …

Next time, the governments must not leave it entirely to the DUP and Sinn Fein in secret

Brian Walker on February 15, 2018, 10:54 am

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It would have been a remarkable feat if the DUP and Sinn Fein could have struck a deal in secret, alone and unaided. Secrecy may be essential for last moves to reach a compromise. But over a year none of the ground had been prepared with the public and it showed. The background was too noisy – RHI, the sudden illness and death of McGuinness, minority governments in London and Dublin with other fish to fry, including monumentally, the throwback …

Was an Irish Language Act really a bridge too far?

David McCann on February 14, 2018, 10:31 pm

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What a week. The DUP Leader, Arlene Foster has brought the curtain down on the current round of talks. It is commonly assumed that selling a stand alone, Irish Language Act is just something that would be a bridge too far for any Unionist leader. However, just taking a stroll down memory lane I wonder is this actually a fair representation of where Unionist voters actually are. Do I think they want an Irish Language Act? No. Would it be …

Arlene’s Valentines Day Massacre

Daithi McKay on February 14, 2018, 10:01 pm

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Today could not have turned out any bigger a mess for the incumbent DUP Leader and would-be First Minister. If sources are to be believed the Fermanagh MLA was ready to sign off on a deal which would have seen 3 Bills introduced : An Irish Language Bill An Ulster Scots Bill A Joint Respect Bill What has happened since the weekend to put the Stormont train off the rails? A DUP Group meeting on Monday morning, 3 days of …

For a political deal ever to emerge, mutual ignorance needs to faced and mutual respect observed

Brian Walker on February 14, 2018, 4:27 pm

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Mick has rightly just pointed out how tantalising easy the language issue could be to solve, were it not for the politics that expresses a far deeper mutual ignorance ( in both senses) than is often recognised and which 20 years of supposed power sharing has failed to reduce. Politically there must be limits to the management of the voluntary apartheid state we appear to be creating before cohesion collapses altogether. That moment may not be as far off as …

What would yet send them over the top? Or is it all over?

Brian Walker on February 14, 2018, 10:25 am

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While Mick has presented the glass half full argument that Sinn Fein have at least indicated a willingness to return to Stormont, attention is bound to be more focused on hopes dashed or at least seriously dampened . But there’s no point in railing against Arlene Foster for bursting out in public with a negative message against an Irish Language Act (“however packaged”) or speculating that DUP supporters with Jim Allister perched on their shoulder were “spooked “ by …