Belfast university culture spat: ‘No-one is convinced by efforts to portray the Irish language as cross-community’

That is the view of Joshua Patterson, head of Queen’s University Belfast’s Orange Society.

He was speaking to the News Letter as a row about a proposed Irish language accommodation block continues.

The controversy erupted this week when it was reported that Cumann na Gaelach, the Queen’s Irish language society, had succeeded in its campaign to create such a block.

The Irish News said the idea is to house people who are studying languages together, and as part of this scheme some Irish-specific accommodation is expected to be in place by September.

Queen’s itself has stressed that it is still only a proposal, not a concrete plan, and that it would merely be in line with similar schemes in other unis.

The Orange Society wrote a letter to the university calling the idea “cultural apartheid” which would “only serve the principle of segregation”.

Cumann na Gaelach then hit back, saying that is a “depressing view” and that “everyone owns the language”.

Many online supporters of the Cumann echoed this sentiment, saying it is perfectly possible for Protestants to embrace the language too.

Mr Patterson responded: “While it may be true that Protestant Irish speakers could avail of this accommodation, and we do not deny that a very small minority of the same might exist, no one is convinced by this argument.

“The vast majority of Protestants do not consider the Irish language to be a part of their cultural heritage and there has been a strong association between it and the Nationalist / Republican movement in Northern Ireland.

“This differentiates the scheme and others in place at universities in the Republic and mainland UK.

“In this way it creates de-facto exclusion zones for Protestant and Unionist students and would further add to the concerning track-record of Queen’s on this issue.”

He added that whilst the Orange society does have its own accommodation scheme (at a place called Croom Elbow) it insists that this is a wholly different matter, because it is a case of private housing, not university-run housing.

Meanwhile Linda Ervine today added her voice to the debate as well. The sister in law of dead PUP chief David, who has run Irish classes in loyalist east Belfast for years, said: “Great to see QUB providing the same type of residential scheme that is available in other UK universities.

“It will be particularly beneficial for students from PUL backgrounds as often they have less opportunity to practise their language skills outside of the classroom.”

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