Alan Chambers: We can respect the Irish language but oppose an Irish language act

The leaders of the main churches have echoed the call to agree such legislation on that basis.

On the Nolan Show recently Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey refused to confirm that his party would be back in the Assembly if this was to happen.

Despite Stephen Nolan and members of the audience repeatedly pressing him on the point he was only prepared to say that a return to Stormont could be “close” in such a situation.

He would not elaborate on how close.

Many people – even some who would describe themselves as unionists - confuse political opposition to an Irish Language Act as representing some sort of almost sectarian antipathy to the teaching and use of this ancient tongue.

The facts do not support such a generalised perception.

Whilst the Ulster Unionist Party is on record as being totally against an Irish Language Act, we have demonstrated - not least in the provisions of the Belfast Agreement – that we do support the Irish language being used as both a teaching medium and as an extension of cultural expression.

We condemned the rather mean spirited withdrawal of modest funding by Paul Givan, the DUP minister for communities, in December 2016 from the Liofa Bursary Scheme, which helped under-privileged young people wishing to learn Irish and we welcomed the U-turn that saw the funding restored soon after

Whilst I fully understand that for some people the Irish language is a part of their identity even though they may not be able to understand it, I have friends who in their school days found themselves under pressure to learn Irish.

They have told me they had no particular interest in learning a language that they could not see yielding them any academic benefits and indeed this chimes perfectly with my sentiments towards efforts to make me learn Latin in school.

However, that said I would never knowingly try to place obstacles in the way of anyone wanting to learn to speak Irish. No one is currently denied the opportunity to learn Irish. A major problem currently is that a lot of the political cheerleaders for an Irish Language Act are actually doing the advancement of the language a huge disservice and have turned it into a purely selfish political football.

Is holding out for such an act really more important than reform of the NHS, review of the funding of our education system or job creation?

Will an Irish Language Act make any of us more prosperous? Will it shorten hospital waiting times? The answers have got to be a resounding no. It is not in the top ten most important issues that a restored Assembly will have to deal with so why has it become the major log jam?

I do not wish for one second to be in any way disrespectful or dismissive to the Irish language or those who hold it dearly and I deeply regret the fact it has become a totally unnecessary political locking of horns.

Sinn Fein have painted themselves into a corner from which nothing short of a political victory will allow them to escape their self-imposed shackles. Will such a victory be in the interests of the greater public good? Even if one was agreed to, how long would it be until a new unmovable red line emerged to cause yet another collapse of the Assembly?

So why does Sinn Fein need an act at all? What will the act look like? What will be the powers of an Irish Language Commissioner be? What will be the financial and legal implications for small and large businesses? What will the consequences of non-compliance be? What will be the cost to the tax and ratepayers? Will it involve signage which could end up marking out territory and dividing this society even further?

The simple answer is we don’t know because no one has told us. No one has produced an up to date draft of an Act for scrutiny. Just how could anyone support such a phantom piece of legislation and effectively write a blank cheque, or realistically ask political parties to bend the knee to its immediate implementation?

My party remains firmly of the opinion that there is no need for an Irish Language Act. There will be many intended consequences of any legislation hastily put in place but more importantly there will be a host of unintended consequences that will cut across every part of our daily lives with the very real potential to create more division, challenges and legal wrangling that will spring from such legislation.

The impasse is not worth another day out of the Assembly. The time has come to park this red line, move on and get back to governing this country in the interests of all our citizens and the issues that affect their everyday lives. Red line issues should be debated and dealt with in a democratically elected forum. They should not be used as a means to deny the return of an Executive and working Assembly.

l Alan Chambers is the Ulster Unionist MLA for North Down