Irish commissioner Pól Deeds questions the legality of 'speaking out against' language legislation
Stormont’s Irish language commissioner has become embroiled in a fresh row over an interview in which he was accused of saying that using the law is unlawful – by now questioning the legality of speaking out against Irish language laws.
Pól Deeds had also criticised the loyalist Jamie Bryson during the interview, conducted in Irish, which has resulted in an ongoing dispute and questions about his conduct.
An attempt to clarify the meaning of his original comments has resulted in one MLA accusing him of having “scant regard for the basic right to freedom of speech”.
A spokesperson for Mr Deeds’s said “the Commissioner takes note of ongoing commentary about his office”.
The issue arose again in Stormont this week, after a committee sought and received correspondence between the Office of the Irish Language Commissioner (OILC) and the Belfast Telegraph.
In the exchange, provided to the Assembly’s Executive Office (TEO) committee, Mr Deeds said he had been taunted on social media by people claiming that “using the law was unlawful”.
Disputing that characterisation of his comments, translated from Irish, Mr Deeds told the newspaper: “My actual objection – or, to be precise, my suspicion – was that constantly speaking out against the protection of the Irish language as provided for in the Identity and Language (NI) Act 2022 may not be entirely lawful”.
The original article quoted Mr Deeds as saying “I don’t even want his name in my mouth” when asked about online comments by Jamie Bryson.
That article also reported Mr Deeds as saying: “He is going through these court cases, week after week, and I don’t know how he has the support he has… I do not myself believe that this is entirely lawful, and I will be questioning that.”
The newspaper has strenuously defended the accuracy of the comments it carried in its original story.
The row follows a string of court cases and applications by Jamie Bryson over Executive policy on the Irish language – as well as his repeated questioning of the powers of the commissioner’s office on social media.
Responding to the latest developments, TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said the correspondence uncovered by the committee is “deeply concerning”.
“Particularly alarming is the Commissioner’s suggestion that ‘constantly speaking out against the protection of the Irish language as provided for in the Identity and Language (NI) Act 2022 may not be entirely lawful’.
“People in Northern Ireland are perfectly entitled to oppose legislation, criticise public policy and challenge public bodies without having their motives or lawfulness questioned by a publicly funded Commissioner with scant regard for the basic right to freedom of speech”, the North Antrim MLA said.
Jamie Bryson said the content of the correspondence is “even worse than his interview”. He said the commissioner had gone further, arguing that “speaking out against legislation is potentially illegal”.
“This is even more ridiculous than his initial comments. It is in fact chilling and would make Joseph Stalin blush. If one speaks out against legislation, what does Mr Deeds say the punishment should be for this ‘illegality? Fine? Prison?”, he said.