The visibility of the Irish language in public spaces is again a major focus of dispute. Unionist parties have opposed Irish-language signage at Grand Central Station in Belfast, and Jamie Bryson has lodged a legal challenge to the plan. On April 14th, a small protest took place to oppose new signs following Sinn Féin’s Minister for Infrastructure, Liz Kimmins, announcing that Irish-language signage would be approved and placed at the new public transport hub. Those trying to stir up opposition are beating the sectarian drum in an attempt to fear-monger and demonise the Irish language to distract from their failings and further their cynical agenda.
Austerity must be opposed
While this is nothing new, it must be opposed, as must the faux claims that this is about ‘proper allocation’ of limited financial resources. Of course, it would have been better if the original signage and ticketing machines had included Irish (that they didn’t indicates in itself that the Irish language is an afterthought for all the Executive parties, including Sinn Féin). However, this apparent oversight is no justification for opposing dual-language signage. In the context of austerity being pushed by Labour in Westminster and by all the parties in the Executive here, the “limited resources” argument must be thoroughly rejected otherwise it will be easily exploited when making cuts or withholding funding elsewhere.
Emma Little-Pengelly (DUP), for example, recently used the same argument to oppose the appointment of a climate commissioner for Northern Ireland, claiming there were more pressing things needing to be prioritised considering Stormont’s limited resources. Instead of accepting that Stormont’s resources are limited, we need to highlight that Executive parties do have an alternative: set a budget based on needs and take the fight to secure such a budget to Westminster, demanding Labour tax corporations and the rich and devolve powers to allow Stormont to do the same.
Spurious arguments
In Queen’s University (QUB), the Ulster Young Unionists, a student society associated with the Ulster Unionist Party, have opposed a campaign for Irish language signage with spurious claims that this would add to concerns about QUB being made a “cold house” for unionists. This ignores the growing interest in the Irish language, including amongst those from Protestant backgrounds. They state that if resources are available, they should be utilised for the recently rolled-out free period product provision across the campus. This again perpetuates the misconception that there are limited resources and that we have to choose between which or whose rights we can advance. It is a fundamentally flawed, crass and cynically divisive line of argument that shows the shallowness of support for schemes like free period products from those who make these arguments. QUB is a very wealthy university and can fund both initiatives. We can’t allow these faux “either-or” arguments. The same applies to the rights of all other languages. Holding back funding to increase the visibility and accessibility of Irish is absolutely unjustified.
Visibility of the Welsh language in public places has been part of a positive strategy to increase its use in Wales in recent years. QUB should follow this lead and place Irish language signs on its campus. At the same time there is an opportunity for students and staff at the University to lead the way in creating genuine dialogue and discussions among the university community, between staff and students, between Irish speakers and non-Irish speakers in a way that seeks to remove the sectarian prism of the wider discussions and creates space where fears and concerns can also be addressed. If the trade unions and student groups got together, a discussion about how to create the best, most welcoming, respectful and diverse environment could be facilitated.
Fight for improved visibility and real funding
The initiative to include Irish-language signage in public spaces is a welcome move and the attempt to deny such signage must be condemned and resisted. This is about fighting for the true realisation of language rights for the Irish-speaking community and learners, as well as highlighting the cultural and historic relevance of the Irish language here and undoing the historic discrimination it has faced. Increased visibility of Irish in public spaces is an important aspect of this – a point that also applies to Ulster-Scots. But in the struggle for realising Irish language rights so much more is needed.
The Irish language has long suffered from both historical and ongoing discrimination, underfunding, and neglect. For example, a law that dates back to 1737 banning the use of the Irish language in the courts was only recently repealed in the North. Due to the conviction, passion and resistance of the Irish-speaking community, the language remains intact to the degree that it is today. While bilingual signage is important and welcome progress, it is a relatively small step forward in the broader context of austerity, disproportionately impacting the Irish Medium Sector. Sinn Féin, who hold the Finance Ministry, are well aware of the decisions they continue to make alongside the DUP, UUP and Alliance in the Executive which further decimate public services. This is having a massive impact on services like Foras na Gaeilge and recipients of funding, which come via that organisation.
Sinn Féin are equally responsible for the same rotten cuts which cause harm to Irish and impact on the fight to protect it as an endangered and minority language. These are the same cuts which stifle art, literature, theatre, cinema and culture, regardless of the language.
If we look at the crisis happening within education more broadly, there is a lack of funding, lack of resources to meet students’ needs, and unmanageable workloads for teaching and support staff. Irish medium schools are disproportionately impacted. In the context of schools already struggling to fulfil appropriate staffing levels due to poor pay and ill treatment of our educators and classroom assistants, it’s all the harder to find workers who are fluent in Irish. Irish-speaking staff are essential to maintaining the immersion Irish medium environment, which allows pupils to acquire the language.
That the support for a language must go beyond rhetoric is also evident when we look at the South. Irish is the first official language of the state but funding for Foras na Gaeilge is also limited, it receives a paltry €16 million per annum. Its budget has increased only once since 2008 and austerity-era cuts are still largely in place. That is in spite of the billions in tax revenue from tax windfalls the Southern government has received in recent years. Crises in housing and the cost of living are also disproportionately affecting Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas, a crucial issue that the grassroots organisation Bánú has highlighted. This shows that struggles for Irish language rights is linked to a wider struggle to end the dearth of affordable homes and pathetically inadequate funding for public services.
Reject sectarianisation and sectarianism
No means exists by which the diverse Irish-speaking community can be consulted on matters such as Irish language signage at Grand Central or any matter relating to the future of the language. It is always politics from above regarding Irish speakers, but without their real involvement. As a minority group, this should not be the case. It is absolutely key that the Irish-speaking community in its full diversity be consulted and given a meaningful voice in securing the Irish language’s rights and future.
We must also actively decouple the issue of the Irish language, its visibility, and its funding from the bickering between sectarian parties to ensure all who wish to learn and use it can do just that. That is an essential step in ensuring the necessary resources and opportunities are available for current and future Irish speakers. This means challenging the narrative pushed by different Unionist forces that the Irish language belongs only to Catholics or that it represents an attack on Protestants. History, in fact, demonstrates the fallacy of this argument; the 1911 census returns indicate that at the time there were as many Irish speakers on Belfast’s Shankill Road as there were on the Falls Road.
The recent rise in interest in the Irish language in predominantly Protestant areas shows that this sectarian line of argument can be, and is being, undermined. The Turas project in East Belfast for example, who strongly argue that the Irish language belongs to everyone, has found their adult classes massively oversubscribed. Nationalist parties must also be challenged when they try to stake an exclusive claim to the Irish language for Catholics and make outrageous, sectarian and inflammatory statements, such as words of Irish being equivalent to “bullets for Irish freedom”.
We must come together to fight against devastating attacks on public services in united campaigns that refuse to accept the lie that there are limited resources for public services including education. Such campaigns are strongest when they challenge the entire political establishment, who are united when it comes to attacking working-class communities and living standards.
