THE Mayor of Derry has revealed that Christmas cards have been sent back to him by members of the community unhappy with the inclusion of the Irish language in the greeting.
The news came at Thursday afternoon’s monthly meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council, where Sinn Fein’s Kevin Campbell tabled a motion calling on council to support the introduction of Acht na Gaeilge (Irish Language Act) ‘as promised in the St Andrew’s Agreement’.
Speaking to the motion, Cllr Campbell added that they ‘recognised the need to have the indigenous language of this island protected in legislation’ and also recognise that the Irish Language Act ‘is important in the context of protecting rights, showing recognition and demonstrating respect’.
He continued that there were currently 563 children being educated in the medium of Irish Language in the local council area.
Commenting, the DUP’s David Ramsey said that his party had never ‘ignored’ that the Irish language existed, but continued that it was now ‘seen as a weapon’.
He continued that a recent survey conducted by Translink showed that 75 per cent of those did not favour bilingual destination signage on buses.
“The politicisation of the language probably didn’t help,” Alderman Ramsey added.
“We all know locally the good work of the Culturlann, but this should be based on demand.”
The SDLP’s Tina Gardiner said that Irish speakers should be given ‘parity of esteem’, however Sinn Fein’s Karina Carlin then hit out at Cllr Gardiner saying that she had asked for an Equality Impact Assessment to be carried out on Irish language being used in Strabane’s Christmas lights display.
The independent councillor Gary Donnelly said that as the father of one of the 563 children being educated in Irish, supporting this motion was the ‘right thing to do’.
At this point in the meeting, the Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Maolíosa McHugh, said that he ‘firmly believed that our language is above party politics’, adding it was there to be ‘used by all’.
He continued that in his time as Mayor, that in ’98 per cent of cases’ people had reacted positively to the Irish language.
However, the Mayor added that Christmas cards had been sent back to him with a ‘big x’ through the Irish language section, but apart from that, the ‘vast majority’ of people had been supportive.
The motion then went to a vote, with the motion passed despite both the DUP and UUP voting against it.
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