Sinn Fein MEP's Irish gaffe shows party wants to make political points by abusing Irish language - TUV
The TUV has said Sinn Fein are more interested in “weaponising” the Irish language than promoting it, after a clip of a republican politician saying she wasn’t prepared to speak Gaelic went viral online.
Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan was addressing a committee of the European Parliament when she lodged a protest that she was unable to speak in Irish.
The Sinn Fein politician began in Irish, before saying “it’s unfortunate that we can’t use our own language in this committee, but I will continue now in English”.
When informed by officials that she could speak in Irish, Ms Boylan responded: “we didn’t know, sorry. So I’ll continue in English because I wasn’t prepared”.
In response to the clip, widely shared online, TUV Strangford Assembly candidate Jonathan Jackson said: “Unionists have long suspected that Sinn Fein are more interested in weaponising Irish and forcing it down the throat of communities who have no interest in it than genuinely promoting it because of love for the language.
“Events in the European Parliament recently have done nothing to dispel this belief.
“Sinn Fein Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan expressed regret that she couldn’t ‘use our own language in this committee’ only to be told that she could.
“This resulted in Ms Boylan sheepishly confessing she would continue in English because she ‘wasn’t prepared’ to speak in Irish.
“Coming off the back of a recent incident in the Irish Parliament where Sinn Fein TDs voted against their own amendment because they didn’t understand business conducted in Irish, this again exposes the fact that Sinn Fein politicians love to make political points via the abuse of Irish considerably more than they love the language.
“Here we had a Sinn Fein MEP reverting to type with a performative grievance.
“When it was immediately removed we discover that no such issue exists.
“While this incident exposes the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein it also highlights that there are no Irish language speakers who do not also speak English. From that point, arise important political considerations”.
Mr Jackson will stand in next year’s Assembly election, hoping to take the party’s first Strangford seat.