By Eóin Dawson
The recent adoption of an Irish language policy by Belfast City Council is a welcome, if long-overdue, moment of progress. For socialists, the recognition of linguistic rights and the advancement of cultural equality are non-negotiable democratic principles. However, this victory is not a gift from the political establishment; it is the hard-won result of decades of tireless work by genuine activists and the power of mass action by Irish speakers and supporters and built on the successful growth in support for the Irish language. We acknowledge this achievement as a significant step toward challenging the historical and ongoing oppression of the Irish language, oppression felt particularly sharply in the North, due to the character of the Northern state for the majority of its existence.
Equally, a socialist analysis demands we look beyond this victory and critically interrogate the wider political context and the material reality facing working people. Is this policy a commitment to inclusion, or is it a cynical, hollow gesture which distracts from the fundamental economic and social failures of our government?
The stench of austerity
The policy’s true limitations are exposed when we examine the actions of many of the parties unconditionally celebrating it. Most of those who passed this policy at City Hall are the same parties who form the Northern Ireland Executive. As they herald this victory, they are simultaneously implementing austerity budgets, overseeing severe cuts to public services, and imposing pay freezes across the public sector.
This policy relegates the progress to being largely symbolic in the context where the same parties are materially destroying the foundations of the communities and organisations who sustain the Irish language. These austerity measures directly undermine the vital funding for Irish language groups, leading to service cuts and job losses. The wider impact of cuts in education, health, and housing, disproportionately impacts the Irish-medium sector and its community. While Belfast City Council’s new policy might promote the aesthetics of the language, the budget passed by the Executive parties starves the reality.
Furthermore, the policy’s detractors decry the cost and claim that the money could be used to plug holes in budgets elsewhere. The irony that it was their implementation of austerity (backed by their Stormont Executive colleagues) that created the holes in the first place, seems to be lost on them. Their further argument that increasing the visibility of Irish language somehow erodes Unionist identity would be laughable if it weren’t so sectarian. This narrative reinforces the idea that Irish belongs solely to those who identify as Irish or nationalist. Furthermore, while similar claims are continually asserted by the likes of the DUP and TUV, they have yet to explain the process by which signage and logos will somehow magically erase the cultural identity of around a million Northern Protestants. As a final offence, these same parties have failed to condemn the vicious threats of loyalist paramilitaries, made in response to the policy, fuelled in part by their hyperbolic, sectarian rhetoric.
This cynical approach reveals the establishment’s priorities: the Irish language is primarily a political tool to be exploited, not a cultural asset to be nourished.
Sectarian division and cultural weaponisation
While welcoming the policy, we must remain cognisant of the political context in which it operates. The Irish language in Northern Ireland is uniquely intertwined with national identity, and it has been leveraged by the political establishment on both sides to maintain sectarian division for many years.
The structures of the Good Friday Agreement, incentivise parties to be seen as the most staunchly nationalist or unionist, which often translates into the most sectarian. Parties on both sides exploit the Irish language to stoke division, attempting to consolidate their own power and distract from their shared failings on economic and social issues. This dynamic has turned minority language rights into a political football.
Alienation and the road to unity
A truly progressive language policy must seek to unite, not alienate. The Irish language is a cultural asset that should be accessible to all. Yet, when powerful parties like Sinn Féin, whose political stance is seen by many unionists as fundamentally opposed to their national aspirations, are the primary drivers, the potential for a genuine sense of cross-community ownership is severely hampered.
This problem is compounded when ostensibly “neutral” Irish language organisations are seen to politically align with one side. This alienates a significant portion of the unionist community who might otherwise take an interest in the language, effectively demarking Irish as being of one political tradition, thus limiting the potential for organic growth across the community divide. The task of creating the conditions where Irish can be understood as a piece of our shared heritage falls to forces committed to cross-community working-class unity.
The unheard voices of the workers movement
Any policy impacting Belfast City Council must be measured against the needs of its workers. The trade union movement, as the authentic voice of the cross-community working-class, is conspicuously absent from the narrative of public support. While politicians may claim that workers are comfortable with changes to uniforms or signage, the lack of a strong public statement from the unions, and the suggestion that consultation will be conducted after the policy has been passed, suggests a failure in original consultation regarding the workers whose day-to-day lives may be directly affected.
The unions are the one of the few cross-community forces who could potentially find the delicate balance between language rights and protecting workers’ collective interests, while genuinely advancing language equality for all. It is through the unions and wider social movements, not the sectarian political class, that the Irish language can be redeemed from being a political weapon and be embraced as a source of unity and shared heritage. Pressure must be brought to bear within the unions to develop a cross-community position, which balances what are too often framed as conflicting rights.
Beyond symbolism: A socialist programme of investment
If the Irish language is to genuinely flourish, social changes that would benefit all are necessary. The prerequisites for a real flourishing of the language are the very same prerequisites for a better society for all:
- Improved funding for education, regardless of the language spoken and including special educational needs and vocational training.
- Robust, sustainable funding for community and voluntary organisations, including youth centres and inclusive cultural initiatives.
- Massive investment in the Health Service and an end to stealth privatisation.
- A huge programme of building affordable, quality, social housing.
The recent Irish language demo in Dublin with 25,000 in attendance, called for not only language rights, but also investment in housing and education. This is precisely the kind of movement needed to win material gains for the Irish language.
These measures would benefit the entire working class, regardless of language or national identity. A rising tide raises all ships and such measures would comprehensively support the Irish language, providing a real, material foundation for its growth. Furthermore, the struggle to win these prizes would be unparalleled in its ability to unite working class people, regardless of community background, or language spoken.
The question of who pays
Such transformative social change cannot be funded by the working class, who are already struggling with stagnant wages and a seemingly endless cost-of-living crisis. The question of who might pay for such a transformation is one the mainstream political parties have no intention of answering. Socialists on the other hand are unequivocal: the super-rich must pay.
The wealth gap in Northern Ireland and across the UK continues to widen, with the ultra-rich capitalist class hoarding unprecedented wealth. A programme of meaningful social investment and cultural equality requires radical change. Measures including reversal of successive tax cuts for the super wealthy and the closing of avenues for tax avoidance and evasion are the first steps towards achieving the sort of wealth redistribution necessary.
Funding the flourishing of the Irish language and funding the flourishing of society as a whole are one and the same task. This requires wrenching economic power from the parasitic class at the top. The main political parties in Northern Ireland, regardless of their position on the language, have shown zero genuine interest in challenging the economic power of the ruling class. They prefer to bicker over flags and logos while preserving the system of austerity that keeps the vast majority of working people in crisis.
This policy is a step forward for cultural rights. But until the political class is replaced by a movement committed to class struggle, economic justice, and genuine cross-community unity, these victories will continue to ring hollow. Only a socialist programme of investment, public ownership, and unity can deliver true equality and a flourishing future for the Irish language and the working class as a whole.
