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.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons told the BBC that Deeds' comments were "another example of how the Irish language was "being brought into the political sphere".

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".

DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said this was a "backwards move".

"Those who genuinely want the Irish language to flourish across all communities should recognise that moves like this risk reinforcing division rather than shared ownership of the language," he added.

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 Lyons and the Conradh na Gaeilge president Mac Giolla Bhéin.

"There has been significant concern among unionism about how the Irish language has been used," Lyons told the BBC on Wednesday.

"This is an other example of how it's being brought into the political sphere.

"This isn't about hostility towards the Irish language, this about the way in which the language is being used by some," he said.

Lyons used examples such as Irish language street signage in Belfast where an "overwhelming majority can be against but some people are wanting to use that as a weapon and wanting to impose that".

He also referenced Conradh na Gaeilge, saying it was an "organisation that for a long time has said it's about culture and it's about language, but it's now going into the political sphere".

"This has become, over the last number of days and months, a much more political issue," Lyons said.

TUV leader Jim Allister described Deeds' comments as "deeply troubling rhetoric".

"Mr Deeds has made it clear that in his view debate about Irish is not a legitimate democratic discussion but part of a wider struggle over the constitutional future of Northern Ireland.

"That betrays the neutrality which the office demands," the North Antrim MP said.

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".