Irish Language Act in North in doubt

There is a possibility that an Irish Language Act will not be brought before Stormont ministers and the Northern Assembly, Culture Minister Edwin Poots said today.

After he met a Sinn Féin delegation headed by Gerry Adams, who lobbied for the legislation to protect Irish speakers' rights in the North, Mr Poots said he and his officials would have to study responses to a consultation on the Act and a cost benefit analysis before he could reach a decision in the autumn.

"Ultimately I will bring recommendations to the executive," he confirmed.

"I cannot say what I am doing at this stage because first of all we are going through an analysis of the consultation.

"Secondly, we are doing a cost and benefits analysis of our own which will identify the cost to the public purse and will identify any benefits from introducing an Irish Language Act.

"It's certainly a possibility (that legislation will not be submitted).

"We have to look at it in the broader scale, look at how we meet our departmental regulations and look at how we meet the conditions set by the European Council. All of that has to be put in the mix and all of that has to be considered."

Mr Poots said he intended to discuss the matter with his Assembly scrutiny committee.

The minister said if the committee could not achieve consensus then he could not take forward any proposals to his cabinet colleagues.

Irish language speakers believe the legislation will enshrine the rights of those who wish to use the language and they also want a commissioner appointed who can monitor how the Act will be enforced.

Gerry Adams today insisted there would be an Irish Language Act which the British Government originally committed itself to in last November's St Andrews Agreement, which paved the way for the resumption of power sharing.

Mr Poots, however, insisted he was not bound by that agreement.

"I am not bound by an agreement between Sinn Féin and Tony Blair," he said.

"What I am bound by is the Northern Ireland Assembly and ultimately any decisions I take have to be taken through the Northern Ireland Assembly.

"We have conditions to ensure that issues which are controversial - and I take it this is deemed to be controversial - that they require cross-community support.

"So ultimately it is a challenge for those people who are lobbying for an Irish Language Act to ensure that they can achieve cross-community support."

Mr Adams, who was also flanked by Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brun and Assembly member Francie Brolly, described his party's engagement with the minister as a good one.

However he said the current clauses for a possible Irish Language Act were not acceptable.

The Sinn Féin leader also insisted that the Irish language was part of a common heritage.

"The language itself isn't a republican language," the West Belfast MP said.

"It isn't a Sinn Féin language. It is actually the heritage and the property of everybody who lives on this island.

"The Irish language doesn't threaten anyone and I know it can be a fairly vexed issue and be used to stir up emotions but I would appeal to people that even the word Ulster comes from the Irish language.

"Numerous place names that we use every day like Shankill, Ballymena and Ballymoney, Belfast, Malone, come from Irish.

"So there needs to be an Act and there will be an Act. The question is what type of an Act is required and from our point of view it has to be rights based, at the core has to be the rights of Irish language users, it has to be properly resourced and there has to be a commissioner who can oversee all of that."