TD says he is not being obstructive by demanding his PSNI Garvaghy Road interview be in Irish language
A politician has said be is not being obstructive by insisting that the PSNI have to interview him in Irish.
Meath West TD Peadar Toibin, a former Sinn Fein man who now leads socially-conservative party Aontu, says that the PSNI is now “seeking an alternative” to his English-language interview which was scheduled for today.
He is facing interview over his attendance at the Garvaghy Road protest in Portadown which blocked the legally-mandated Drumcree Orange march on September 27.
Policing Board member Trevor Clarke MLA accused him of a “performative stunt” over his PSNI interview, and raised questions about the cost of translation.
Mr Toibin had been summoned to the PSNI’s Musgrave Station in Belfast today at 11am for an interview under caution.
Mr Toibin said he had “asked for the interview to be in Irish,” and since the PSNI were “not able to facilitate that” today, they are “seeking an alternative arrangement”.
He has asked for it to take place a week later, on November 13.
"As far as I understand, under the Irish Langauge Act in 2022 citizens have a right to engage with the state in the Irish language if the resources are obviously available to do so,” Mr Toibin told the News Letter (the act he’s referring to is officially called the ‘Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022’).
Why did he insist the interview must be in Irish?
"I love the Irish language. I speak the Irish language every day with family, with friends.
"When I engage with the state in the south of Ireland, I do my taxes in Irish, for example.
"I’m an Irish language activist and I want the Irish language to be a living language – I want it to be a language of business and family and commerce and trade, and if you want a language to renew, you simply have to speak it.
"There’s no other way about it.
"The language isn’t something that’s there as an ornament in a nice glass box to be taken down on ceremonial occasions.”
He wanted to “encourage the PSNI to speak more Irish” which “is very dear to the identity of Irish nationalists”.
It was put to him that some people will think that obstructive. Why not just do the interview in English?
"If it’s my desire to see Ireland increase the level of Irish spoken, surely you would take most opportunities to speak the language myself?” he said.
"If Irish is an official language of the north of Ireland, well then maybe we should have the PSNI starting to provide Irish language classes for PSNI officers or to make sure that a portion of their recruits are fluent in Irish so this wouldn’t occur…
"It’s not obstructive.”
He went on to add that the Garvaghy Road interviews in general are “a nonsense merry-go-round” and “a monumental waste of time” anyway.
Back in January the Irish News had reported that “a police officer who arrested a west Belfast grandmother at a pro-Palestinian protest will face disciplinary action after failing to arrange translation services when she spoke in Irish” following an investigation by the Police Ombudsman.
The paper quoted her lawyer Kevin Winters as saying their “failure to properly engage with her when she spoke in Irish was disrespectful and demeaning” and that the case “puts a marker down” for the PSNI.
The PSNI was asked if it has agreed to Mr Toibin’s terms, and if so, whether everyone now has a right to demand police interviews in Irish.
It said: “A number of individuals have received letters regarding the interview process.
"As this is a live criminal investigation, we will not be making any further comment at this time.”
Mr Clarke said: “Recently he [Mr Toibin] was also perfectly capable of being interviewed entirely in English on RTE, where Mr Toibin highlighted this view that that there is a problem in relation to individuals not being able to speak ‘the language’ in the Republic of Ireland – by which he presumably meant English.
"He then went on to point out that millions of euros were spent in the Republic on translation services in the courts, hospitals and by the gardai.
"This performative stunt is part of an obvious wider competition within nationalism to out-do each other in relation to the breaches of the law that occurred on the Garvaghy Road.
"Mr Toibin is clearly concerned about spending on translation services within his own country.
"The PSNI should take a similar view on this side of the border.”