Ms Linda Ervine:

The East Belfast Mission is situation on the Lower Newtownards Road, within a loyalist community and close to the interface. Over the past few years, it has been the scene of serious rioting and this area has taken centre stage in the recent flag dispute. The mission is surrounded by paramilitary murals and a sea of union flags, yet it is also the home of five thriving Irish language classes a week, and since September last year, has registered over 100 people, including ten children, for Irish language lessons.

As well as teaching the language, East Belfast Mission has also engaged with the Protestant, Unionist, loyalist, PUL, community through a programme of education. To date, over 100 people have participated in workshops which explore the links between Protestants and the Irish language, with 68% of participants expressing a desire to know more about the language. Another 650 have attended presentations, with 100% of both workshops and presentations being received positively. We have not waved a magic wand and turned Protestants into Gaelgeoirí, we have simply given people the facts about Protestants and the Irish language, which allows them to accept the language as part of their heritage without compromising them politically or culturally.

For many from the Protestant community, there appears to be an innate interest in the language and when it is depoliticised and taken outside of the Nationalist, republican sphere, they naturally warm to it, realising that it was also the language of their forefathers. However, I will relate a recent event which illustrates the reaction of some Protestants to the language. On St. Patrick's Day this year, along with members of the congregation of East Belfast Mission who are also members of the Irish classes, I led a prayer in Irish during the morning worship service. The prayer was from the Church of Ireland's Leabhar na hUrnaí Coitinne and I asked the congregation to participate in the prayer by reciting "molaigí an Tiarna", "praise the Lord", after every couple of lines of the prayer. The prayer was put up on a PowerPoint slide at the front of the church in both Irish and English. I was informed a few weeks later that three women had left the church because they were so offended.

As someone who loves the Irish language, that seems to me ridiculous, but it is important to remember that many people from my community do not regard the Irish language in a positive way. Unfortunately, the only words of Irish which would be instantly recognisable to many Protestants in Northern Ireland, are "tiocfaidh ár lá". For them, it is not simply a language, but the language of the enemy, a republican weapon which they feel has been used against them. Interestingly, as part of my job as Irish language development officer, I have also come into contact with people from Nationalist backgrounds who have told me that they avoided learning Irish at school because they regarded it as too politicised and they believed that by learning Irish one was making a statement about one's own political viewpoint.

Despite my own desire to promote the Irish language and for the language to be protected through an official act of Parliament, I believe that to push through legislation which would give the language official status in Northern Ireland would be ill advised at this time and could be potentially harmful to the language. I fear that a negative reaction by the Protestant Unionist loyalist community to the Act could be exploited by certain politicians for their own political gain. Over time an effective programme of education and depoliticisation, along with events which seek to increase the popularity of the Irish language making it more mainstream and equally accessible to both communities, will neutralise the language and create an atmosphere which will allow members of the PUL community to take ownership of it. The likelihood of the Irish Language Act having the potential to become another contentious issue would greatly subside and the Act could then be passed with little or no opposition. Overall, I am in favour of the Act, but at present my opinion on the Act is "Yes it should be introduced, but not yet."

I have spoken to a number of key loyalist organisations and their responses are as follows: John Kyle, from the Progressive Unionist Party, said:

In my opinion the current political climate is not conducive to the introduction of an Irish Language Act. The events of the past year have heightened Unionist fears and increased hostility towards the Irish language. Considerable spadework needs to be done to persuade Unionists that they have any historical connection to the Irish language and that its promotion is not simply a means of replacing British culture with Irish.

An unofficial spokesperson from the Ulster Volunteer Force said:

It would be unwise to try to introduce an Irish language Act at present due to the dissatisfaction and resentment of hard-line loyalists to what they perceive as the undermining of their position in their own country, being carried out by Sinn Féin and aided and abetted Whitehall. Within the membership of the UVF there are those who would be sympathetic to the Irish language, but in the present toxic atmosphere, the introduction of a Language Act would be counterproductive and could put back the cause of the Irish language within Unionist communities. A policy of education and depoliticisation to neutralise the language should be put in place before any government action could be brought about.

Charter Northern Ireland stated:

What the Irish Language Act entails needs to be explained to the Protestant people and the working class Protestant community in particular. Charter N.I. concurs with the Good Friday Agreement and for a language act as part of that agreement and we fundamentally support the ultimate introduction of the act after a period of effective education. However, at this time when Protestant communities feel that their British identity is under threat, we feel that a common sense approach must be taken by all involved.