Irish language should be shared by all in Northern Ireland, says DUP minister Paul Givan

​Paul Givan vowed to advocate on behalf of the sector as he visited an Irish language primary school in Dungannon, Co Tyrone today.

In 2016, Mr Givan provoked controversy when he axed a bursary scheme for children to attend Irish language classes in Co Donegal. His funding decision was ultimately reversed.

The minister spoke some words of Irish during his visit to Gaelscoil Aodha Rua, including maidin mhaith (good morning), and also took part in a traditional ceili dance with pupils in the playground.

He said: “I think it’s important for me to be here today to send out that message that I will be a minister for all of the various sectors within education and I will advocate on behalf of the Irish medium sector.”

He noted that it was Scottish Presbyterians who had kept the Gaelic language alive and it features in the names of townlands and places across NI.

“So I think it’s important that, politically, we say that the Irish language should not be something that is politicised, that it is something that I believe can be a shared language for everybody in Northern Ireland,” the Press Association reported him saying.

However TUV leader Jim Allister responded that Mr Givan's claim that Irish "belongs to all of us" is a "fictional claim".

It does not feature on the curriculum of controlled schools and Irish language signage has caused tensions in majority Unionist areas, he said.

“But commitment to Gaelic is a core component of the Irish nationalist political identity regardless as to whether or not they can actually speak the language The objective of Irish language legislation is to use the status of Gaelic within the legislation as an ‘official language’ to promote the Gaelicisation of Northern Ireland as part of the nationalist strategy for an all-Ireland.

He also suggested that unionists will soon be disenfranchised when applying for public sector jobs as a result of new Irish language legislation.