Sinn Fein expects Irish language act to be part of the Queen’s speech at Westminster

The Sinn Fein president said she received assurances over the legislation during her party’s meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis yesterday.

There had been an expectation that the Westminster government would introduce the legislation before the Stormont election last week.

It fell to the Northern Ireland Office after the Stormont parties were unable to agree to introduce cultur al and language legislation in the Assembly which was part of the New Decade, New Approach deal.

The plans include an Office of Identity and Cultural Expression to promote respect for diversity as well as an Irish language commissioner and a commissioner to develop language, arts and literature associated with the Ulster-Scots/Ulster-British tradition.

However, Mr Lewis announced in March that the legislation would not be introduced ahead of the election.

Ms McDonald said her team raised the legislation with Mr Lewis during their meeting.

“The commitment now is that there will be reference to Acht Gaeilge in the Queen’s Speech and that legislation will be brought forward very soon,” she said.

“We don’t have a precise date but we again have a very precise commitment, and this is a long-running saga and a really unnecessary drama around recognising the rights of Irish language speakers.”

l Morning View, page 14