Hostility to Irish language 'does unionism no favours'

Hostility towards the Irish language is not doing unionism "any favours", Stormont's Irish language commissioner has said.

Pól Deeds said "every word spoken against the Irish language" could be seen as "another blow struck in the cause of Irish unification".

It follows an Irish language campaign group voting to change its constitution "to work towards a united Ireland for the benefit of the Irish language".

Deeds said the move by Conradh na Gaeilge last month reflected some of the "frustration that the Irish language community feel" in Northern Ireland.

But he said it was "not the way I'll go about my work" as his job was to "promote the Irish language as a minority indigenous language of the UK".

He was speaking as he attended an event at Stormont's Parliament Buildings to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge, or Irish language week.

Deeds was appointed as Stormont's first ever Irish language commissioner last October.

It was one of three posts agreed as part of a deal in 2020 to restore Northern Ireland's devolved government following a three-year collapse.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Deeds said the recent vote by Conradh na Gaeilge was "something that people should take note of" in the "context of the frustration that the Irish language community feel".

He referred to delays in language legislation and a "new influx of hostility" over laws surrounding his appointment as commissioner.

"So people need to take note and realise that everything to, I suppose coin a phrase - every word spoken against the Irish language could be seen in one sense, as another blow struck in the cause of Irish unification."

He added: "The more hostility that is generated around the Irish language, I don't think it's doing those who would be of a pro-union point of view any favours.

"And I think people really need to be conscious of that."

In February, Conradh na Gaeilge said its members had voted to amend its constitution "to work towards a united Ireland for the benefit of the Irish language and the Gaeltacht".

Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, president of Conradh na Gaeilge, at the time said the motions passed demonstrated the "confidence and clarity of our membership".

Sinn Féin assembly member Aisling Reilly, a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, welcomed the move as "historic".

Deeds, who is not a member of the organisation, said in response to the vote: "I understand some of the frustration there, but it's not the way I'll go about my work.

"And I would want to reassure people that what I'm here to do is to promote the Irish language as a minority indigenous language of the UK."

The event at Stormont was hosted by speaker Edwin Poots of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

He opened the event in the Great Hall by welcoming attendees with a few words in Irish.

"This is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate a language and culture which is central to the identity of many in the assembly and indeed our wider society," he added.

Among those in attendance were Communities Minister Gordon Lyons and the Conradh na Gaeilge president Mac Giolla Bhéin.

Disputes have continued at Stormont and within local councils over policies on the Irish language, particularly over bilingual signage.

Plans by the infrastructure minister to spend £150,000 on bilingual displays at Belfast's Grand Central Station are being challenged in the courts.

Just days before the commissioner's appointment, Stormont's communities minister argued that Irish has been used by some as a "weapon of cultural dominance".