Ulster is Irish is Ireland

"The Irish language itself isn't a republican language, it isn't a Sinn Féin language. It is actually the heritage and the property of everybody who lives on this island. The Irish language doesn't threaten anyone and I know it can be a fairly vexed issue and be used to stir up emotions but I would appeal to people that even the word Ulster comes from the Irish language. Numerous place names that we use every day like Shankill, Taughmonagh, Ballymena and Ballymoney, Belfast, Malone, come from Irish. You could go on forever and ever and ever." said Mr Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein
"So there needs to be an Act and there will be an Act. The question is what type of an Act is required and from our point of view it has to be rights based, at the core has to be the rights of Irish language users, it has to be properly resourced and there has to be a commissioner who can oversee all of that." Gerry Adams leader of Sinn Fein after his meeting with the new Culture Minister Edwin Poots.
The meeting was memorable for the fact that the DUP minister, in his post-meeting news conference, actually spoke some words of Irish. Edwin Poots was asked by a reporter if he knew any Irish himself. He replied that he probably knew as much as many assembly members including Sinn Fein. When pressed to elaborate on what words he knew, the minister ventured: "Go raith maith agat, Ceann Chomairle and of course I learned the word bainne many years ago in County Wicklow which means milk."

A Sinn Féin delegation headed by Gerry Adams, were lobbying for the legislation to protect Irish speakers' rights in the North. Mr Adams, speaking alongside Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brun and Assembly member Francie Brolly, described his party's engagement with the DUP minister as a good one. However Mr Adams he said the current clauses for a possible Irish Language Act were not acceptable. The Sinn Féin leader insists that the Irish language is part of a common heritage.

Never the less the Irish Language Act in North is now in doubt. There is a possibility that an Irish Language Act will not be brought before Stormont ministers and the Northern Assembly, Culture Minister Edwin Poots said today. "Ultimately I will bring recommendations to the executive, I cannot say what I am doing at this stage because first of all we are going through an analysis of the consultation. Secondly, we are doing a cost and benefits analysis of our own which will identify the cost to the public purse and will identify any benefits from introducing an Irish Language Act. It's certainly a possibility (that legislation will not be submitted). We have to look at it in the broader scale, look at how we meet our departmental regulations and look at how we meet the conditions set by the European Council. All of that has to be put in the mix and all of that has to be considered.".
Mr Poots, says he is not bound by any agreement between Sinn Fein and Tony Blair.
"I am not bound by an agreement between Sinn Féin and Tony Blair, What I am bound by is the the north of Ireland Assembly and ultimately any decisions I take have to be taken through the the north of Ireland Assembly. We have conditions to ensure that issues which are controversial - and I take it this is deemed to be controversial - that they require cross-community support. So ultimately it is a challenge for those people who are lobbying for an Irish Language Act to ensure that they can achieve cross-community support."

Irish language speakers believe the legislation will enshrine the rights of those who wish to use the language and they also want a commissioner appointed who can monitor how the Act will be enforced.

Mr Adams said he had a good meeting with the minister, but insisted that the act was part of the St Andrews Agreement - and that all parties had signed up to the deal. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Adams was resolute: "There needs to be an act, and there will be an act."

Concubhar O Liathain, editor of the Irish language newspaper La Nua, said "For too long the Irish language has been subject to the whims and vagaries of political fortune, A right-based approach would make it part of the landscape ...(with legislation) there is no need then to make the argument any more that we need these rights. The rights are there and it's up to the state to figure out a way to implement them cost-effectively and efficiently."

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Ulster is Irish is Ireland