Westminster’s gamble in bypassing Stormont to impose Irish language legislation

Westminster is taking a very big gamble by going over the head of Stormont by introducing Irish language legislation.

The move is controversial and effectively reimposes direct-rule by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).

It is well known that Sinn Féin have been lobbying the Secretary of State for some time to put Irish on the statute books and it would seem they have got their way.

However, the consequences of such legislation are profound, as they have been in the Republic.

It will automatically create a double administration and bureaucracy, and serious disputes will certainly arise over its implementation.

The cost of interpretative services are in the millions across the civil service, for a language which is rarely spoken outside of classrooms by teachers paid to speak and teach it.

Double signs and services will appear on everything one can imagine: road signs; public building signs; estate signs; signs on public transport; hospitals; ATM machines; government documents and Irish language broadcasting, the list is never-ending.

Compulsory Irish may come in for some or all schools as we have seen in the Republic, depending on what legislation says.

This will be a massive change for Northern Ireland and has the potential to destabilise the fragile peace.

One also has to wonder why Ulster-Scots has not been legislated for and why is Irish or Gaelic so imperative. Is it to suit Sinn Féin and their united Ireland agenda, who interestingly speak far more English than Irish?

Westminster has made what amounts to a constitutional change, bar enactment, in Northern Ireland’s administrative infrastructure – now they have to live with it and be totally responsible for its fallout.

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