Report Urges Irish Language Speakers to Plan for Potential United Ireland

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.

Nic Liam told BBC News NI that a united Ireland would be an unprecedented opportunity for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. She said the Irish language is consistently presented as a controversial symbol of nationalism and is presented accordingly in the most negative and regressive terms.

Instead, she described Irish as a living community language across Ireland. "We must look at the entire island and how the relationship can be improved with the language across all 32 counties," Nic Liam said. She added that language rights are a political issue.

Irish language speakers and those sympathetic to the language are looking towards Irish unity as an opportunity to put the Irish language at the heart of a new political agreement, she said.

University's logo appears on the front of the report alongside that of Conradh na Gaeilge. The author is a PhD student at the university, and the report was launched in its Seamus Heaney Centre. In a statement, a university spokesperson said Queen's University is committed to freedom of thought and expression within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons.

"Academic Freedom is enshrined as a guiding principle in the University's Charter and Statutes," the spokesperson said. " Conradh na Gaeilge is a member-run organisation that promotes the Irish language and advocates for the rights of Irish speakers.

Reacting to the report, the group's Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin said the Irish language was often viewed as a controversial emblem of nationalism and not as a living community language. He added that the Irish language can play a transformational role and provide people with another avenue to engage in the debate on the future direction of the country in a democratic and transparent way.