politics
Report Urges Irish Language Speakers to Plan for Potential United Ireland
A report commissioned by Conradh na Gaeilge states that the Irish language should not serve as a bargaining chip in discussions about Irish unity. The document calls on Irish speakers to participate actively in planning for a potential border poll. It was written by a PhD student at Queen's University and launched at the university's Seamus Heaney Centre.
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A new report says Irish language speakers should be proactive in planning for Irish unity and that the language should not be used as a bargaining chip to help unionists accept a united Ireland. Those are the main conclusions from a report commissioned by Conradh na Gaeilge, a cross-border Irish language organisation that is more than 130 years old.
The group recently shifted its policy to work towards a united Ireland. The report, titled A United Ireland: A Transformative Opportunity for the Irish Language and Gaeltacht, was written by Róisín Nic Liam. The report argues that the participation of Irish speakers could significantly benefit the wider campaign for Irish unity.
It states that Irish unity and the prospect of a border poll is now an area of significant public debate. The document says the Irish language has often been treated as something that must be reconsidered or de-emphasised in the event of Irish unity, or offered up as a bargaining chip or symbolic concession.
It adds that the language has frequently been framed as an imposition on the unionist community. As a result, the report states, the Irish language is often seen as something that should be curtailed in a united Ireland. This includes making learning Irish optional rather than compulsory in schools, reducing its role in public life such as on street signs, and placing Irish on equal footing with English and Ulster-Scots in a new constitution.
"The rights of one minority should not be curtailed in order to accommodate those of another in a united Ireland," the report said. It concludes that Irish speakers should be active participants in a campaign for a border poll to secure a better future for the language in a new Ireland.
