UK govt urged to honour Irish language act pledge

The British government today faced fresh calls for it to honour its St Andrews talks pledge to pass an Irish Language Act for the North.

Following his appointment as the chairperson of the Assembly’s Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee, fluent Irish speaker Barry McElduff expressed frustration at the pace of the legislative process

The West Tyrone MLA, who said he was looking forward to working with the DUP minister who would take charge of the culture, arts and leisure department, said the rights of Irish Language speakers would form a sizeable part of his work.

“Many may be frustrated about the delay in the Irish language Act imposed by the unaccountable British Direct Rule ministers,” Mr McElduff said.

“Sinn Féin share that frustration. We want a strong Irish Language Act with a rights based approach, adequately funded and with an Irish Language commissioner as soon as possible.

“The British government made commitments on this issue at St Andrews and these need to be acted upon.

“Delivering on this sort of agenda does not have to be divisive if the DUP minister and the rest of the committee adopt the sort of approach which has been obvious in recent days as we collectively agreed a date for restoration and the allocation of departments, ministers and committee chairs.”

The DUP has yet to name who its culture minister will be, although East Derry MP Gregory Campbell and Lagan Valley MLA Edwin Poots have been linked to the post.

The minister will also have to take a crucial decision on plans for a new multi-sports stadium at the site of the Maze Prison in the face of demands from Belfast councillors that it should be located in the city instead.

The DUP will have four ministries in the new executive but party leader Ian Paisley is not expected to reveal who will take the cabinet seats until after Easter.

Deputy leader Peter Robinson and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds have been linked to the finance and economy portfolios.

Fermanagh and South Tyrone Assembly member Arlene Foster is also strongly fancied to take the environment portfolio.